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: T^ ii:- jT. ^' fi-iy^v-^^ ^^fi' A'l
HARRIS NEWMARK
AET. LXXIX
SIXTY YEARS
IN
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
CONTAINING THE REMINISCENCES OF
HARRIS NEWMARK
EDITED BY
MAURICE H. NEWMARK
MARCO R. NEWMARK
Every generation enjoys the use of a vast hoard bequeathed
to it by antiquity, and transmits that hoard, augmented by
fresh acquisitions, to future ages. In these pursuits, therefore,
the first speculators lie under great disadvantages, and, even
when they fail, are endtled to praise. — Macaulay.
WITH ISO ILLUSTRATIONS
NEW YORK
■JCbe Iknicfterbocher press
1916
Copyright, 1916 \
BY
M. H. AND M. R. NEWMARK
To
THE MEMORY OF
MY WIFE
Hn fll>emorlam
At the hour of high twelve on April the fourth, 1916, the
sun shone into a room where lay the temporal abode, for eighty-
one years and more, of the spirit of Harris Newmark. On his
face stiU lingered that look of peace which betokens a life
worthily used and gently relinquished.
Many were the duties allotted him in his pilgrimage ;
splendidly did he accomplish them ! Providence permitted him
the completion of his final task — a labor of love — but denied
him the privilege of seeing it given to the community of his
adoption.
To him and to her, by whose side he sleeps, may it be both
monument and epitaph.
Thy will be done I
M. H. N.
M. R. N.
INTRODUCTION
SEVERAL times during his latter years my friend, Charles
Dwight Willard, urged me to write out my recollections
of the five or six decades I had already passed in Los
Angeles, expressing his regret that many pioneers had carried
from this world so much that might have been of interest to
both the Angeleno of the present and the future historian of
Southern California; but as I had always led an active life of
business or travel, and had neither fitted myself for any sort
of literary undertaking nor attempted one, I gave scant at-
tention to the proposal. Mr. Willard's persistency, however,
together with the prospect of cooperation offered me by my
sons, finally overcame mj^ reluctance and I determined to
commence the work.
Accordingly in June, 19 13, at my Santa Monica home, I
began to devote a few hours each day to a more or less fragmen-
tary enumeration of the incidents of my boyhood ; of my voyage
over the great wastes of sea and land between my ancestral and
adopted homes; of the pueblo and its surroundings that I
found on this Western shore; of its people and their customs;
and, finally, of the men and women who, from then until now,
have contributed to the greatness of the Southland, and of the
things they have done or said to entitle their names to be
recorded. This task I finished in the early fall. During its
progress I entered more and more into the distant Past, until
Memory conjured before me many long-forgotten faces and
happenings. In the end, I found that I had jotted down a
mass of notes much greater than I had expected.
Thereupon the Editors began their duties, which were to
arrange the materials at hand, to supply names and dates
viii Introduction
that had escaped me, and to interview many who had been
principals in events and, accordingly, were presumed to know
the details; and much progress was made, to the enlarging
and enrichment of the book. But it was not long before they
found that the work involved an amount of investigation
which their limited time would not permit ; and that if carried
out on even the modest plan originally contemplated, some
additional assistance would be required.
Fortunately, just then they met Perry Worden, a post-
graduate of Columbia and a Doctor of Philosophy of the
University of Halle, Germany ; a scholar and an author of at-
tainments. His aid, as investigator and adviser, has been
indispensable to the completion of the work in its present form.
Dr. Worden spent many months searching the newspapers,
magazines and books— some of whose titles find special men-
tion in the text — which deal with Southern California and its
past ; and he also interviewed many pioneers, to each of whom
I owe acknowledgment for ready and friendly cooperation. In
short, no pains was spared to confirm and amplify all the facts
and narratives.
Whether to arrange the matter chronologically or not, was
a problem impossible of solution to the complete satisfaction of
the Editors; this, as well as other methods, having its advan-
tages and disadvantages. After mature consideration, the
chronological plan was adopted, and the events of each year
have been recorded more or less in the order of their happening.
Whatever confusion, if any, may arise through this treatment
of local history as a chronicle for ready reference will be easily
overcome, it is believed, through the dating of the chapters
and the provision of a comprehensive index; while the brief
chapter-heading, generally a reference to some marked occur-
rence in that period, will further assist the reader to get his
bearings. Preference has been given to the first thirty years
of my residence in Los Angeles, both on account of my
affectionate remembrance of that time and because of the
peculiarity of memory in advanced life which enables us to
recall remote events when more recent ones are forgotten ; and
Introduction ix
inasmuch as so little has been handed down from the days
of the adobe, this partiality will probably find favor.
In collecting this mass of data, many discrepancies were met
with, calling for the acceptance or rejection of much long cur-
rent here as fact ; and in all such cases I selected the version
most closely corresponding with my own recollection, or that
seemed to me, in the light of other facts, to be correct. For
this reason, no less than because in my narrative of hitherto
unrecorded events and personalities it would be miracu-
lous if errors have not found their way into the story, I
shall be grateful if those who discover inaccuracies will report
them to me. In these sixty years, also, I have met many
men and women worthy of recollection, and it is certain that
there are some whose names I have not mentioned; if so, I
wish to disclaim any intentional neglect. Indeed, precisely as I
have introduced the names of a number for whom I have had no
personal liking, but whose services to the community I remem-
ber with respect, so there are doubtless others whose activities,
past or present, it would afford me keen pleasure to note, but
whom unhappily I have overlooked.
With this brief introduction, I give the manuscript to the
printer, not with the ambitious hope of enriching literature in
any respect, but not without confidence that I have provided
some new material for the local historian — perhaps of the
future — and that there may be a goodly number of people
sufficiently interested to read and enjoy the story, yet indulgent
enough to overlook the many faults in its narration.
H.N.
Los Angeles,
December ji, IQIS^
FOREWORD
THE Historian no longer writes History by warming over
the pancakes of his predecessors. He must surely know
what they have done, and how — and whereby they
succeeded and wherein they failed. But his own labor is to
find the sidelights they did not have. Macaulay saves him
from doing again all the research that Macaulay had to do;
but if he could find a twin Boswell or a second Pepys he would
rather have either than a dozen new Macaulays. Since history
is becoming really a Science, and is no more a closet exploration
of half-digested arm-chair books, we are beginning to learn the
overwhelming value of the contemporary witness. Even a
justice's court will not admit Hearsay Evidence; and Science
has been shamed into adopting the same sane rule. Nowadays
it demands the eye-witness. We look less for the ' ' Authorities' '
now, and more for the Documents. There are too many
histories already, such as they are-^self-satisfied and oracular,
but not one conclusive. Every history is put out of date,
almost daily, by the discovery of some scrap of paper or some
clay tablet from under the ashes of Babylon.
i Mere Humans no longer read History — except in school
where they have to, or in study clubs where it is also Required.
But a plain personal narrative is interesting now as it has been
for five thousand years. The world's greatest book is of course
compulsory; but what is the interesting part of it? Why, the
stories — Adam and Eve; Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; Saul and
David and Samson and Delilah; Solomon, Job, and Jesus the
Christ! And if anyone thinks Moses worked-in a little too
much of the Family Tree — he doesn't know what biblical
archaeology is doing. For it is thanks to these same "petty"
xii Foreword
details that modem Science, in its excavations and decipherings,
has verified the Bible and resolved many of its riddles !
Greece had one Herodotus. America had four, antedating
the year 1600. All these truly great historians built from all the
"sources" they could find. But none of them quite give us the
homely, vital picture of life and feeling that one untaught and
untamed soldier, Bernal Diaz, wrote for us three hundred
years ago when he was past ninety, and toothless — and angry
''because the historians didn't get it straight." The student of
Spanish America has often to wish there had been a Bernal
Diaz for every decade and every province from 1492 to 1800.
His unstudied gossip about the conquest of Mexico is less
balanced and less authoritative, but far more illuminative,
than the classics of his leader, Cortez — a university man, as
well as a great conqueror.
For more than a quarter of a century it was one of my duties
to study and review (for the Nation and other critical journals)
all sorts of local chronicles all over Spanish and English America
— particularly of frontier times. In this work I have read
searchingly many hundreds of volumes; and have been brought
into close contact with our greatest students and editors of
"History-Material," and with their standards.
I have read no other such book with so unflagging interest
and content as these memoirs of Harris Newmark. My per-
sonal acquaintance with Southern California for more than
thirty years may color my interest in names and incidents ; but
I am appraising this book (whose proofs I have been permitted
to read thoroughly) from the standpoint of the student of
history anywhere. Parkman and Fiske and Coues and Hodge
and Thwaites would join me in the wish that every American
community might have so competent a memorandum of its
life and customs and growth, for its most formative half-
century.
This is not a history. It is two other much more necessary
things — for there is no such thing as a real History of Los
Angeles, and cannot be for years. These are the frank, naive,
conversational memoirs of a man who for more than sixty
Foreword xiii
years could say of Southern California almost as truly as
^neas of his own time— "All of which I saw, much of which I
was." The keen observation, the dry humor, the fireside
intimacy of the talk, the equity and accuracy of memory and
judgment — all these make it a book which will be much more
valued by future generations of readers and students. We are
rather too near to it now.
But it is more than the "confessions" of one ripe and noble
experience. It is, beyond any reasonable comparison, the
most characteristic and accurate composite picture we have
ever had of an old, brave, human, free, and distinctive life
that has changed incredibly to the veneers of modern society.
It is the very mirror of who and what the people were that laid
the real foundations for a community which is now the wonder
of the historian. The very details which are "not Big enough"
for the casual reader (mentally over-tuned to newspaper
headlines and moving pictures) are the vital and enduring
merits of this unpretentious volume. No one else has ever set
down so many of the very things that the final historian of
Los Angeles will search for, a hundred years after all oxir orato-
ries and "literary efforts" have been well forgotten. It is a
chronicle indispensable for every public library, every reference
library, the shelf of every individual concerned with the story
of California.
It is the Pepys's Diary of Los Angeles and its tributary
domain.
Charles F. Lummis.
PREFACE
THE Editors wish to acknowledge the cooperation given,
from time to time, by many whose names, already
mentioned in the text, are not repeated here, and in
particular to Drs. Leo Newmark and Charles F. Lummis, and
Joseph P. and Edwin J. Loeb, for having read the proofs.
They also wish to acknowledge Dr. Lummis's self-imposed
task of preparing the generous foreword with which this
volume has been favored. Gratitude is also due to various
friends who have so kindly permitted the use of photographs —
not a few of which, never before published, are rare and difficult
to obtain. Just as in the case, however, of those who deserve
mention in these memoirs, but have been overlooked, so it is
feared that there are some who have supplied information and
yet have been forgotten. To all such, as well as to several
librarians and the following, thanks are hereby expressed:
Frederick Baker, Horace Baker, Mrs. J. A. Barrows, Prospero
Barrows, Mrs. R. C. Bartow, Miss Anna McConnell Beckley,
Sigmund Beel, Samuel Behrendt, Arthur S. Bent, Mrs. Dora
Bilderback, C. V. Boquist, Mrs. Mary Bowman, AUan Bromley,
Professor Valentin Buehner, Dr. Rose Bullard, J. 0. Burns,
Malcolm Campbell, Gabe Carroll, J. W. Carson, Walter M. Cas-
tle, R. B. Chapman, J. H. Clancy, Herman Cohn, Miss Gertrude
Darlow, Ernest Dawson and Dawson's Bookshop, Louise Deen,
George E. Dimitry, Robert Dominguez, Durell Draper, Miss
Marjorie Driscoll, S. D. Dunann, Gottlieb Eckbahl, Richard
Egan, Professor Alfred Ewington, David P. Fleming, James G.
Fowler, Miss Effie Josephine Fussell, A. P. Gibson, J. Sherman
Glasscock, Gilbert H. Grosvenor, Edgar J. Hartung, Chaimcey
Hayes, George H. Higbee, Joseph Hopper, Adelbert Homung,
xvi Preface
Walter Hotz, F. A. Howe, Dr. Clarence Edward Ide, Luther
Ingersoll, C. W. Jones, Mrs. Eleanor Brodie Jones, Reverend
Henderson Judd, D. P. Kellogg, C. G. Keyes, Willis T. Knowl-
ton, Bradner Lee, Jr., H. J. Lelande, Isaac Levy, Miss Ella
Housefield Lowe, Mrs. Celeste Manning, Mrs. Morris Meyberg,
Miss Louisa Meyer, William Meying, Charles E. Mitchell, R. C.
Neuendorffer, S. B. Norton, B. H. Prentice, Burr Price, Edward
H. Quimby, .B. B. Rich, Edward I. Robinson, W. J. Rouse,
Paul P. Royere, Louis Sainsevain, Ludwig Schiff, R. D. Sepiil-
veda, Calvin Luther Severy, Miss Emily R. Smith, Miss
Harriet Steele, George F. Strobridge, Father Eugene Sugranes,
Mrs. Carrie Switzer, Walter P. Temple, W. I. Turck, Judge
and Mrs. E. P. Unangst, William M. Van Dyke, August
Wackerbarth, Mrs. J. T. Ward, Mrs. Olive E. Weston, Pro-
fessor A. C. Wheat and Charles L. Wilde.
CONTENTS
PAGE
In Memoriam
V
Introduction ........
vii
Foreword
xi
Preface
XV
CHAPTER
I.-
—Childhood and Youth, i 834-1 853
I
II.-
—Westward, Ho! 1853
6
III.-
—New York — Nicaragua — The Golden Gate
1853
14
IV.-
—First Adventures in Los Angeles, 1853
27
V.-
—Lawyers and Courts, 1853 . . . .
45
VI.-
—Merchants and Shops, 1853
60
VII.-
—In and near the Old Pueblo, 1853
80
VIII.-
—Round about the Plaza, i 853-1 854
97
IX.-
-Familiar Home-Scenes, 1854
112
X.-
-Early Social Life, 1854 . . . .
128
XI.-
—The Rush for Gold, 1855 .
146
XII.-
—The Great Horse Race, 1855
157
XIII.-
—Princely Rancho Domains, 1855 .
166
XIV.-
—Orchards and Vineyards, 1856 .
189
xviii Contents
CHAPTER PAGE
XV. — Sheriff Barton and the Bandidos, 1857 . 204
XVI. — Marriage — The Butterfield Stages, 1858 . 220
XVII. — Admission to Citizenship, 1859 . . . 240
XVIII. — First Experience with the Telegraph, i 860 260
XIX. — Steam-Wagon — Odd Characters, i860. . 274
XX. — The Rumblings of War, 1861 . . . 289
XXI. — Hancock — Lady Franklin — The Deluge,
1861 ....... 299
XXII. — Droughts — The Ada Hancock Disaster,
1862-1863 ...... 310
XXIII. — Assassination of Lincoln, 1864-1865 ■. . 328
XXIV. — H. Newmark & Company — Carlisle-King
Duel, i 865-1 866 ..... 342
XXV. — Removal to New York, and Return, 1867
1868
XXVI.— The Cerro Gordo Mines, 1869 .
XXVII. — Coming of the Iron Horse, 1869
XXVIII. — The Last of the Vigilantes, 1870
XXIX. — The Chinese Massacre, 1871
•XXX.— The Wool Craze, i 872-1 873
XXXI. — The End of Vasquez, 1874 .
XXXII. — The Santa Anita Rancho, 1875 .
359
379
393
408
421
437
452
472
XXXIII. — Los Angeles & Independence Railroad,
1876 -485
XXXI V. — The Southern Pacific, 1876 . . . 496
Contents xix
XXXVI. — Centenary of the City — Electric Light,
1881-1884
XXXVII. — Repetto and the Lawyers, 1885-1887
XXXVIIL— The Great Boom, 1887
XXXIX.— Proposed State Division, 1888-1891 .
XL. — The First Fiestas, 1892-1897
PAGE
XXXV. — The Revival OF THE Southland, 1 877-1 880 . 509
525
546
564
588
602
XLI. — The Southwest Arch^ological Society,
1898-1905 . . . ... . 616
XLII. — The San Francisco Earthquake, 1 906-1910 . 633
XLIII. — Retrospection, 1910-1913 .... 641
Index ....... 653
ILLUSTRATIONS
FACING
PAGE
Harris Newmark. In his Seventy-ninth Year
Engraved from a photograph Frontispiece
Facsimile of a Part of the MS. ..... 2
Reproduction of Swedish Advertisement ... 3
Philipp Neumark ........ 10
From a Daguerreotype.
Esther Neumark ........ 10
From a Daguerreotype
J. P. Newmark ........ 10
From a Daguerreotype
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Newmark ..... 10
Los Angeles in the Early Fifties . . . . .11
From a drawing of the Pacific Railway Expedition
Bella Union as it Appeared in 1858 .... 26
From a Uthograph
John Goller's Blacksmith Shop . . . . .27
From a lithograph of 1858
Henry Mellus ........ 50
From a Daguerreotype
Francis Mellus ........ 50
From a Daguerreotype
John G. Downey ........ 50
Charles L. Ducommun ....... 50
XXll
Illustrations
FACING
PAGE
The Plaza Church
- 51
Prom a photograph, probably taken in the middle eighties
Pio Pico
. 68
Prom an oil portrait
Juan Bandini
. 68
Abel Stearns
. 68
Isaac Williams ......
. 68
Store of Felipe Rheim .....
. 69
John Jones
. 102
Captain F. Morton .....
. 102
Captain and Mrs. J. S. Garcia
. 102
Captain Salisbury Haley ....
. 102
El Palacio, Home of Abel and Arcadia Stearns
. 103
From a photograph of the seventies
. 103
J. P. Newmark ......
. 112
From a vignette of the sixties
Jacob Rich .......
. 112
0. W. Childs
. 112
John 0. Wheeler ......
. 112
Benjamin D. Wilson .....
• 113
George Hansen ......
. 113
Dr. Obed Macy . . . . .
• 113
Samuel C. Foy
• 113
Myer J. AND Harris Newmark .
. 128
Prom a Daguerreotype
George Carson
. 128
John G. Nichols ,
. 128
Illustrations
xxiii
FACING
PAGE
David W. Alexander
129
Thomas E. Rowan
129
Matthew Keller
129
Samuel Meyer
129
Louis Sainsevain
154
Manuel Dominguez
154
El Aliso, THE Sainsevain Winery ....
154
From an old lithograph
Jacob Elias ........
155
John T. Lanfranco
155
J. Frank Burns .......
155
Henry D. Barrows
155
Maurice Kremer .......
168
Solomon Lazard .......
168
Mellus's, or Bell's Row
168
From a lithograph of 1858
William H. Workman and John King .
169
Prudent Beaudry
169
James S. Mallard
169
John Behn . .
169
Louis Robidoux
174
Julius G. Weyse
174
John Behn ........
174
Louis Breer
174
William J. Brodrick ......
175
Isaac R. Dunkelberger
175
Frank J. Carpenter
17s
XXIV
Augustus Ulyard .
Illustrations
Los Angeles in the Late Fifties
From a contemporary sketch
Myer J. Newmark
Edward J. C. Kewen
Dr. John S. Griffin
William C. Warren
Harris Newmark, when (about) Thirty-four Years Old
Sarah Newmark, when (about) Twenty-four Years of
Age
Facsimile of Harris and Sarah Newmark's Wedding
.Invitation .......
San Pedro Street, near Second, in the Early Seventies
Commercial Street, Looking East from Main, about
1870
View of Plaza, Showing the Reservoir
Old Lanfranco Block ....
WiNFiELD Scott Hancock
Albert Sidney Johnston
Los Angeles County in 1854
From a contemporary map
The Morris Adobe, once Fremont's Headquarters
Eugene Meyer
Jacob A. Moerenhout
Frank Lecouvreur
Thomas D. Mott .
Leonard J. Rose .
H. K. S. O'Melveny
FACING
PAGE
175
188
189
189
189
189
224
224
225
254
254
255
255
290
290
291
291
310
310
310
310
311
311
Illustrations xxv
FACING
PAGE
Remi Nadeau . . . . . . . -311
John M. Griffith 311
Kaspare Cohn ........ 342
M. A. Newmark . . .■ 342
H. Newmark & Co. 's Store, Arcadia Block, about 1875,
Including (left) John Jones's Forjier Premises . 343
H. Newmark & Co.'s Building, Amestoy Block, about
1884 343
Dr. Truman H. Rose . . . . . . . 370
Andrew Glassell ........ 370
Dr. Vincent Gelcich ....... 370
Charles E. Miles, in Uniform of 38's .... 370
Facsimile of Stock Certificate, Pioneer Oil Co. . . 371
AmericanBakery, Jake Kuhrts's Building, about 1880 . 371
LoEBAU Market Place, near the House in which
Harris Newmark was Born . . . . 384
Street in Loebau, Showing (right) Remnant of an-
cient City Wall ....... 384
Robert M. Widney 385
Dr. Joseph KurtZ ....... 385
Isaac N. Van Nuys 385
Abraham Haas ........ 385
Phineas Banning, about 1869 ..... 400
Henri Penelon, in his Studio ..... 400
Carreta, Earliest Mode of Transportation . . . 401
Al.^meda Street Depot and Train, Los Angeles & San
Pedro Railroad . . . . . . .401
Henry C. G. Schaeffer ...... 428
XXVI
Illustrations
Lorenzo Leck
Henry Hammel
Louis Mesmer
John Schumacher
William Nordholt
Turnverein-Germania Building, Spring Street
Vasquez and his Captors
{Top) D. K. Smith,
William R. Rowland,
Walter E. Rodgers.
{Middle) Albert Johnson,
Greek George's Home,
G. A. Beers.
{Bottom) Emil Harris,
TiBURCio Vasquez,
J. S. Bryant.
Greek George
Nicolas Martinez
Benjamin S. Eaton
Henry T. Hazard .
Fort Street Home, Harris Newmark, Site of Blanchard
Hall; Joseph Newmark at the Door
Calle de los Negros (Nigger Alley), about 1870 .
Second Street, Looking East from Hill Street, Early
Seventies
FACING
PAGE
428
428
428
428
428
429
452
Round House, with Main Street Entrance
Spring Street Entrance to Garden of Paradise.
Temple Street, Looking West from Broadway, about
1870
Pico House, soon after Completion
William Pridham ... ...
453
453
464
464
464
465
465
476
476
477
477
500
Illustrations
Benjamin Hayes .......
Isaac Lankershim .......
Rabbi A. W. Edelman .....
Fort Street, from the Chaparral on Fort Hill.
Antonio Franco and Mariana Coronel
From an oil painting in the Coronel Collection
Fourth Street, Looking West from Main .
TiMMs Landing .......
From a print o£ the late fifties
Santa Catalina, in the Middle Eighties
Main Street. Looking North from Sixth, Probably in
THE Late Seventies ....
High School, on Pound Cake Hill, about 1873
Temple Court House, after Abandonment by the
County ........
First Street, Looking East from Hill .
Spring Street, Looking North from First, about 1885
Cable Car, Running North on Broadway (Previously
Fort Street), near Second
Early Electric Car, with Conductor J
(still in Service) .
AMES Gallagher
George W. Burton
Ben C. Truman
Charles F. Lummis
Charles Dwight Willard
Grand Avenue Residence, Harris Newmark, 1889
IsAiAs W. Hellman
Herman W. Hellman ......
xxvii
FACING
PAGE
500
500
531
531
566
567
594
594
594
594
595
616
616
xxviii Illustrations
FACING
PAGE
Cameron E. Thom . . . . .616
Ygnacio Sepulveda . . . . . . .616
First Santa Fe Locomotive to Enter Los Angeles. . 617
Main Street, Looking North, Showing First Federal
Building, Middle Nineties . . . . .617
Harris and Sarah Newmark, at Time of Golden Wedding 636
Summer Home of Harris Newmark, Santa Monica . 637
Harris Newmark, at the Dedication of M. A. Newmark
& Co.'s Establishment, 191 2 ..... 644
J. P. Newmark, about 1890 ...... 644
Harris Newmark Breaking Ground for the Jewish
Orphans' Home, November 28th, 191 1 . . . 645
SIXTY YEARS
IN
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Sixty Years in Southern
California
CHAPTER I
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH
1834-1853
I WAS born in Loebau, West Prussia, on the 5th of July, 1834,
the son of Philipp and Esther, nie Meyer, Neumark; and
I have reason to beHeve that I was not a very welcome
guest. My parents, who were poor, already had five children,
and the prospects of properly supporting the sixth child were
not bright. As I had put in an appearance, however, and there
was no alternative, I was admitted with good grace into the
family circle and, being the baby, soon became the pet.
My father was born in the ancient town of Neumark ; and
in his youth he was apprenticed to a dealer in boots and
shoes in a Russian village through which Napoleon Bonaparte
marched on his way to Moscow. The conqueror sent to the
shop for a pair of fur boots, and I have often heard ra.Y father
tell, with modest satisfaction, how, shortly before he visited
the great fair at Nijni Novgorod, he was selected to deliver
them ; how more than one ambitious and inquisitive friend tried
to purchase the privilege of approaching the great man, and
what were his impressions of the warrior. When ushered into
the august presence, he found Bonaparte in one of his charac-
2 Sixty Years in Southern California [1834-
teristic postiu-es, standing erect, in a meditative mood, braced
against the wall, with one hand to his forehead and the other
behind his back, apparently absorbed in deep and anxious
thought.
When I was but three weeks old, my father's business
affairs called him away from home, and compelled the sacrifice
of a more or less continued absence of eight and one half years.
During this period my mother's health was very poor. Un-
fortunately, also, my father was too liberal and extravagantly-
inclined for his narrow circumstances ; and not being equipped
to meet the conditions of the district in which we lived and
our economical necessities, we were continually, so to speak, in
financial hot water. While he was absent, my father traveled
in Sweden and Denmark, remitting regularly to his family as
much as his means would permit, yet earning for them but
a precarious living. In 1842 he again joined his family in
Loebau, making visits to Sweden and Denmark diu-ing the
summer seasons from 1843 until the middle fifties and spend-
ing the long winters at home. Loebau was then, as now, of
little commercial importance, and until 1849, when I was
fifteen years of age and had my first introduction to the
world, my life was very commonplace and marked by little
worthy of special record, unless it was the commotion center-
ing in the cobble-paved market-place, as a restilt of the
Revolution of 1848.
With the winter of 1837 had come a change in my father's
plans and enterprises. Undergoing unusually severe weather
in Scandinavia, he listened to the lure of the New World and
embarked for New York, arriving there in the very hot svmimer
of 1838. The contrast in climatic conditions proved most dis-
astrous; for, although life in the new Republic seemed both
pleasing and acceptable to one of his temperament and liberal
views, illness finally compelled him to bid America adieu.
My father was engaged in the making of ink and blacking,
neither of which commodities was, at that time, in such univer-
sal demand as it is now; and my brother, Joseph Philipp, later
known as J. P. Newmark, having some time before left
E NEUMARK? Falirikater.
CYAN BLANKS MO RJA
Spanaskar
'i i
/ - . . i' .. I / ] /!>
/....>, 1! ./?
./ .. .. , ? . i| , /»•
ECONOMIE-BLANKSMORJA
f fm.//e/Udfa CapduSVP r/ y// //^ j . /;?
/«, sofu uhmirker si/^ f/t-fiom (/n/qftf*t
fr, f'o///tr^// storrf /jatiier mei/ ?/
raSrfif. Snth/iffafff /hM ].
i
BLACK Uv STAU»KAiVOR ||
KMfMIM.
J
1_
"Note. — The 'F' in the above announcement is
the abbreviation for Fabian, one of Philipp Neumark's
given names, at one time used in business, but
seldom employed in social correspondence, and finally
abandoned altogether."
i853] Childhood and Youth 3
Sweden, where he had been assisting him, for England, it was
agreed, in 1849, after a family council, that I was old enough to
accompany my father on his business trips, gradually become
acquainted with his affairs, and thus prepare to succeed
him. Accordingly, in April, of that year, I left the family
hearth, endeared to me, unpretentious though it was, and
wandered with my father out into the world. Open confession,
it is said, is good for the soul; hence I must admit that the
prospect of making such a trip attracted me, notwithstanding
the tender associations of home; and the sorrow of parting from
my mother was rather evenly balanced, in my youthful mind,
by the pleasurable anticipation of visiting new and strange
lands.
Any attempt to compare methods of travel in 1849, even in
the countries I then traversed, with those now in vogue, would
be somewhat ridiculous. Country roads were generally poor
— in fact, very bad; and vehicles were worse, so that the entire
first day's run brought us only to Lessen, a small village but
twelve miles from home ! Here we spent the night, because of
the lack of better accommodations, in blankets, on the floor of
the wayside inn; and this experience was such a disappoint-
ment, failing to realize, as it did, my youthful anticipations,
that I was desperately homesick and ready, at the first oppor-
tunity, to return to my sorrowing mother. The Fates, however,
were against any such change in our plans; and the next
morning we proceeded on our way, arriving that evening
at the much larger town of Bromberg. Here, for the first time,
the roads and other conditions were better, and my spirits
revived.
Next day we left for Stettin, where we took passage for
Ystad, a small seaport in southern Sweden. Now our real
troubles began ; part of the trip was arduous, and the low state
of our finances permitted us nothing better than exposed deck-
quarters. This was particularly trying, since the sea was rough,
the weather tempestuous, and I both seasick and longing for
home ; moreover, on arriving at Ystad, after a voyage of twelve
hours or more, the Health Officer came on board our boat and
4 Sixty Years in Southern California [1834-
notified us that, as cholera was epidemic in Prussia, we were
prohibited from landing ! This filled me with mortal fear lest
we should be returned to Stettin under the same miserable
conditions through which we had just passed ; but this state of
mind had its compensating influence, for my tears at the dis-
coiiraging announcement worked upon the charity of the
uniformed officials, and, in a short time, to my inexpressible
delight, we were permitted to land. With a natural alertness to
observe anything new in my experience, I shall never forget my
first impressions of the ocean. There seemed no limit to the
expanse of stormy waters over which we were traveling; and
this fact alone added a touch of solemnity to my first venture
from home.
From Ystad we proceeded to Copenhagen, where my father
had intimate friends, especially in the Lachmann, Eichel and
Ruben families, to whose splendid hospitality and unvary-
ing kindness, displayed whenever I visited their neighborhood,
I wish to testify. We remained at Copenhagen a couple of
months, and then proceeded to Gothenburg. It was not at this
time my father's intention to biu-den me with serious respon-
sibility; and, having in mind my age, he gave me but little of
the work to do, while he never failed to afford me, when he
could, an hour of recreation or pleasvire. The trip as a whole,
therefore, was rather an educational experiment.
In the fall of 1849, we returned to Loebau for the winter.
From this time until 1851 we made two trips together, very
similar to the one already described; and in 1851, when I was
seventeen years of age, I commenced helping in real earnest.
By degrees, I was taught the process of manufacturing; and
when at intervals a stock had been prepared, I made short trips
to dispose of it. The blacking was a paste, put up in small
wooden boxes, to be applied with a brush, such a thing as water-
proof blacking then not being thought of, at least by us.
During the summer of 185 1, business carried me to Haparanda,
about the most northerly port in Sweden ; and from there I took
passage, stopping at Lulea, Pitea, Umea, Hernosand, Sundsvall,
Soderhamn and Gefle, all small places along the route. I trans-
i8s3l Childhood and Youth 5
acted no business, however, on the trip up the coast because
it was my intention to return by land, when I shotild have
more time for trade; accordingly, on my way back to Stock-
holm, I revisited all of these points and succeeded beyond my
expectations.
On my trip north, I sailed over the Gulf of Bothnia which,
the reader will recollect, separates Sweden from Finland, a
province most tmhappily under Russia's bigoted, despotic
sway; and while at Haparanda, I was seized with a desire to
visit Tornea, in Finland. I was well aware that if I attempted
to do so by the regular routes on land, it would be necessary to
pass the Russian customhouse, where officers would be sure
to examine my passport; and knowing, as the whole liberal
world now more than ever knows, that a person of Jewish faith
finds the merest sally beyond the Russian border beset with un-
reasonable obstacles, I decided to walk across the wide marsh in
the northern part of the Gulf, and thus circumvent these expo-
nents of intolerance. Besides, I was curious to learn whether, in
such a benighted country, blacking and ink were used at all.
I set out, therefore, through the great moist waste, making my
way without much difficulty, and in due time arrived at Tornea,
when I proceeded immediately to the first store in the neigh-
borhood; but there I was destined to experience a rude, un-
expected setback. An old man, evidently the proprietor, met
me and straightway asked, "Are you a Jew?" and seeing, or
imagining that I saw, a delay (perhaps not altogether tem-
porary!) in a Russian jail, I withdrew from the store without
ceremony, and returned to the place whence I had come. Not-
withstanding this adventure, Ireached Stockholm in due season,
the trip back consuming about three weeks; and during part
of that period I subsisted almost entirely on salmon, bear's
meat, milk, and kndckebrod, the last a bread usually made of rye
flour in which the bran had been preserved. All in all, I was
well pleased with this maiden-trip ; and as it was then Septem-
ber, I returned to Loebau to spend one more winter at home.
CHAPTER II
WESTWARD, ho!
1853
IN April, 1853, when I had reached the age of nineteen, and
was expected to take a still more important part in our
business — an arrangement perfectly agreeable to me — my
father and I resumed our selling and again left for Sweden.
For the sake of economy, as well as to be closer to our field
of operations, we had established two insignificant maniifac-
turing plants, the one at Copenhagen, where we packed for
two months, the other at Gothenburg, where we also prepared
stock; and from these two points, we operated until the middle
of May, 1853. Then a most important event occurred, com-
pletely changing the coiirse of my life. In the spring, a letter
was received from my brother, J. P. Newmark, who, in 1848, had
gone to the United States, and had later settled in Los Angeles.
He had previously, about 1846, resided in England, as I have
said; had then sailed to New York and tarried for a while in
the East; when, attracted by the discovery of gold, he had
proceeded to San Francisco, arriving there on May 6th, 1851,
being the first of our family to come to the Coast. In this letter
my brother invited me to join him in California ; and from the
first I was inclined to make the change, though I realized that
much depended on my father. He looked over my shoulder
while I read the momentous message; and when I came to the
suggestion that I should leave for America, I examined my
father's face to anticipate, if possible, his decision. After some
6
1853] Westward, Ho! 7
reflection, he said he had no doubt that my future woidd be
benefited by such a change ; and whUe reluctant enough to let
me go, he decided that as soon as practicable I ought to start.
We calculated the amount of blacking likely to be required
for OUT trade to the season's end, and then devoted the neces-
sary time to its manufacture. My mother, when informed of
my proposed departure, was beside herself with grief and forth-
with insisted on my return to Loebau ; but being convinced that
she intended to thwart my desire, and having in mind the very-
optimistic spirit of my brother's letter, I yielded to the in-
fluence of ambitious and unreflecting youth, and sorrowfully
but firmly insisted on the execution of my plans. I feared that,
should I return home to defend my intended course, the mutual
pain of parting would still be great. I also had in mind my
sisters and brothers (two of whom, Johanna, still alive,
and Nathan, deceased, subsequently came to Los Angeles), and
knew that each would appeal strongly to my affection and
regret. This resolution to leave without a formal adieu caused
me no end of distress ; and my regret was the greater when, on
Friday, July ist, 1853, Istood face to face with the actual reali-
zation, among absolute strangers on the deck of the vessel that
was to carry me from Gothenburg to Hull and far away from
home and kindred.
With deep emotion, my father bade me good-bye on the
Gothenburg pier, nor was I less affected at the parting;
indeed, I have never doubted that my father made a great
sacrifice when he permitted me to leave him, since I must have
been of much assistance and considerable comfort, especially
during his otherwise solitary travels in foreign lands. I re-
member distinctly remaining on deck as long as there was the
least vision of him; but when distance obliterated all view of
the shore, I went below to regain my composure. I soon in-
stalled my belongings in the stateroom, or cabin as it was
then called, and began to accustom myself to my new and
strange environment.
There was but one other passenger — a young man — and
he was to have a curious part in my immediate future. As he
8 Sixty Years in Southern California [i8s3
also was bound for Hull, we entered into conversation; and
following the usual tendency of people aboard ship, we soon
became acquaintances. I had learned the Swedish language,
and could speak it with comparative ease ; so that we conversed
without difficulty. He gave Gothenburg as his place of resi-
dence, although there was no one at his departure to wish him
God-speed ; and while this impressed me strangely at the time,
I saw in it no particular reason to be suspicious. He stated
also that he was bound for New York ; and as it developed that
we intended to take passage on the same boat, we were pleased
with the prospect of having each other's company throughout
the entire voyage. Soon our relations became more confidential
and he finally told me that he was carrying a sum of money,
and asked me to take charge of a part of it. Unsophisticated
though I was, I remembered my father's warning to be careful
in transactions with strangers ; furthermore, the idea of burden-
ing myself with another's responsibility seeming injudicious, I
politely refused his request, although even then my suspicions
were not aroused. It was peculiar, to be sure, that when we
steamed away from land, the young man was in his cabin ; but
it was only in the light of later developments that I understood
why he so concealed himself.
We had now entered the open sea, which was very rough,
and I retired, remaining in my bunk for two days, or until we
approached Hull, suffering from the most terrible seasickness
I have ever experienced ; and not until we sailed into port did
I recover my sea legs at all. Having dressed, I again met
my traveling companion; and we became still more intimate.
On Sunday morning we reached Hull, then boasting of no such
harbor facilities as the great Humber docks now in course of
construction; and having transferred our baggage to the train
as best we could, we proceeded almost immediately on our way
to Liverpool. While now the fast English express crosses the
country in about three hours, the trip then consimied the
better part of the night and, being made in the darkness,
afforded but little opportunity for observation.
Hardly had we arrived in Liverpool, when I was surprised
i8s3] Westward, Ho ! 9
in a way that I shall never forget. While attempting to find
our bundles as they came from the luggage van — a precaution
necessitated by the poor baggage system then in vogue, which
did not provide for checking — my companion and I were taken
in hand by officers of the law, told that we were under arrest,
and at once conducted to an examining raagistrate! As my
conscience was clear, I had no misgivings on account of the
detention, although I did fear that I might lose my personal
effects; nor was I at ease again tintil they were brought
in for special inspection. Our trunks were opened in the
presence of the Swedish Consul who had come, in the mean-
time, upon the scene; and mine having been emptied, it was
immediately repacked and closed. What was my amazement,
however, when my fellow-traveler's trunk was found to contain
a very large amount of money with ■which he had absconded
from Gothenburg! He was at once hurried away to police
headquarters; and I then learned that, after our departure,
messages had been sent to both Hull and Liverpool to stop the
thief, but that through confusion in the description, doubtless
due to the crude and incomplete information transmitted by
telegraph (then by no means as thoroughly developed as now) ,
the Liverpool authorities had arrested the only two passen-
gers arriving there who were known to have embarked at
Gothenburg, and I, unfortunately, happened to be one of
them.
At the period whereof I write, there was a semimonthly
steamer service between Liverpool and New York ; and as bad
luck would have it, the boat in which I was to travel paddled
away while I was in the midst of the predicament just de-
scribed, leaving me with the unpleasant outlook of having to
delay my departure for America two full weeks. The one thing
that consoled me was that, not having been fastidious as to my
berth, I had not engaged passage in advance, and so was not
further embarrassed by the forfeiture of hard-earned and much-
needed money. As it was, having stopped at a moderately
priced hotel for the night, I set out the next morning to inves-
tigate the situation. Speaking no English, I was fortunate, a
10 Sixty Years in Southern California I^ssa
few days later, in meeting a Swedish emigration agent who
informed me that the Star King, a three-masted sailing vessel
in command of Captain Burland — both ship and captain
hailing from Baltimore — was booked to leave the following
morning; and finding the office of the company, I engaged
one of the six first-class berths in the saloon. There was no
second-cabin, or I might have traveled in that class; and
of steerage passengers the Star King carried more than eight
hundred crowded and seasick souls, most of whom were
Irish. Even in the first-class saloon, there were few, if any, of
the ordinary comforts, as I soon discovered, while of liixuries
there were none; and if one had the misfortune to lose even
trifling delicacies such as I had, including half a dozen bottles
of assorted syrups — put up by good Mrs. Lipman, on my
leaving Gothenburg, and dropped by a bungling porter — the
inconvenience of the situation was intensified.
We left Liverpool — which, unlike Hull, I have since seen
on one of my several visits to Europe — on the evening of the
loth of July. On my way to the cabin, I passed the dining
table already arranged for supper; and as I had eaten very
sparingly since my seasickness on the way to Hull, I was
fully prepared for a square meal. The absence not only of
smoke, but of any smell as from an engine, was also favorable
to my appetite; and when the proper tim.e arrived, I did full
justice to what was set before me. Steamers then were infre-
quent on the Atlantic, but there were many sailing vessels;
and these we often passed, so close, in fact, as to enable the
respective captains to converse with each other. In the begin-
ning, we had an ample supply of fresh meat, eggs and butter, as
well as some poultry, and the first week's travel was like a
delightful pleasure excursion. After that, however, the meat
commenced to deteriorate, the eggs turned stale, and the
butter became rancid ; and as the days passed, everything grew
worse, excepting a good supply of cheese which possessed, as
usual, the faculty of improving, rather than spoiling, as it aged.
Mountain water might justly have shown indignation if the
contents of the barrels then on board had claimed relationship;
Philipp Neumark
From a Daguerreotype
Esther Neumark
From a Daguerreotype
J. P. Newmark
From a Daguerreotype
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Newmark
<ias!«-x^
ii'kj>^<' "»•'
i8s3] Westward, Ho! ii
y
while coffee and tea, of which we partook in the usual man-
ner at the commencement of our voyage, we were compelled
to drink, after a short time, without milk — the one black and
the other green. Notwithstanding these annoyances, I en-
joyed the experience immensely, once I had recovered from my
depression at leaving Europe; for youth could laugh at such
drawbacks, none of which, after all, seriously affected my
naturally buoyant spirits. Not until I narrowly escaped being
shot, through the Captain's careless handling of a derringer,
was I roused from a monotonous, half-dreamy existence.
Following this escape, matters progressed without special
incident until we were off the coast of Newfoundland, when we
had every reason to expect an early arrival in New York.
Late one afternoon, while the vessel was proceeding with all
sail set, a furious squall struck her, squarely amidships ; and in
almost as short a time as it takes to relate the catastrophe, oiu-
three masts were snapped asunder, falling over the side of the
boat and all but capsizing her. The utmost excitement pre-
vailed; and from the Captain down to the ordinary seaman,
all hands were terror-stricken. The Captain believed, in fact,
that there was no hope of saving his ship; and forgetful of
all need of self-control and discipline, he loudly called to us,
"Every man for himself!" at the same time actually tearing at
and plucking his bushy hair — a performance that in no wise
relieved the crisis. In less than half an hour, the fury of the
elements had subsided, and we found oiu-selves becalmed; and
the crew, assisted by the passengers, were enabled, by cutting
away chains, ropes and torn sails, to steady the ship and keep
her afloat. After this was accomplished, the Captain engaged
a number of competent steerage passengers to help put up
emergency masts, and to prepare new sails, for which we
carried material. For twelve weary days we drifted with
the current, apparently not advancing a mile; and during all
this time the Atlantic, but recently so stormy and raging, was
as smooth as a mill-pond, and the wreckage kept close to our
ship. It was about the middle of August when this disaster
occurred, and not until we had been busy many days rigging
12 Sixty Years in Southern California [1853
up again did a stiff breeze spring up, enabling us to complete
our voyage.
On August 28 th, 1853, exactly forty-nine days after our de-
parture from Liverpool, we arrived at New York, reaching
Sandy Hook in a fog so dense that it was impossible to see any
distance ahead; and only when the fog lifted, revealing the
great harbor and showing how miraculously we had escaped
collision with the numerous craft all about us, was our joy and
relief at reaching port complete. I cannot recollect whether
we took a pilot aboard or not ; but I do know that the peculiar
circumstances under which we arrived having prevented a
health officer from immediately visiting us, we were obliged
to cast anchor and await his inspection the next morning.
During the evening, the Captain bought fresh meat, vegetables,
butter and eggs, offered for sale by venders in boats coming
alongside; and with sharpened appetites we made short work
of a fine supper, notwithstanding that various features of shore
life, or some passing craft, every minute or two challenged our
attention, and quite as amply we did justice, on the following
morning, to our last breakfast aboard ship. As I obtained my
first glimpse of New York, I thought of the hardships of my
father there, a few years before, and of his compulsory return
to Europe ; and I wondered what might have been my position
among Americans had he succeeded in New York. At last, on
August 29th, 1853, under a blue and inspiriting sky and with both
curiosity and hope tuned to the highest pitch, I first set foot on
American soil, in the country where I was to live and labor the
remainder of my life, whose flag and institutions I have more
and more learned to honor and love.
Before leaving Eiu-ope, I had been provided with the New
York addresses of friends from Loebau, and my first duty was
to look them up. One of these, named Lindauer, kept a board-
ing-house on Bayard Street near the Five Points, now, I believe,
in the neighborhood of Chinatown; and as I had no desire to
frequent high-priced hotels, I made my temporarj' abode with
him. I also located the house of Rich Brothers, associated with
the San Francisco concern of the same name and through whom
i8s3] Westward, Ho! 13
I was to obtain funds from my brother with which to continue
my journey ; but as I had to remain in New York three weeks
until their receipt, I could do little more in furthering my de-
parture than to engage second-cabin passage via Nicaragua by
a line running in opposition to the Panam4 route, and offering
cheapness as its principal attraction. Having attended to that,
I spent the balance of the time visiting and seeing the city, and
in making my first commercial venture in the New World. In
my impatience to be doing something, I foolishly relieved
Samuel, a brother of Kaspare Cohn, and a nephew of mine, of
a portion of his merchandise; but in a single day I decided to
abandon peddling — a difBcult business for which, evidently,
I was never intended. After that, a painful experience with
mosquitoes was my only unpleasant adventure. I did not
know until later that an excited crowd of men were just then
assembled in the neighborhood, in what was styled the Uni-
versal Ice-Water Convention, and that not far away a crowd
of women, quite as demonstrative, excluded from the councils
of men and led by no less a personality than P. T. Barnum,
the showman, were clamoring for both Prohibition and Equal
Suffrage !
CHAPTER III
NEW YORK — NICARAGUA — THE GOLDEN GATE
1853
ON September 20th, during some excitement due to the fear
lest passengers from New Orleans afflicted with yellow-
fever were being smuggled into the city despite the vi-
gilance of the health authorities, I left New York for Nicaragua,
then popularly spoken of as the Isthmus, sailing on the steamer
Illinois as one of some eleven or twelve hundred travelers re-
cently arrived from Europe who were hurrying to California
on that ship and the Star of the West. The occasion afforded
my numerous- acquaintances a magnificent opportunity to give
me all kinds of advice, in the sifting of which the bad was dis-
carded, while some attention was paid to the good. One of the
important matters mentioned was the danger from drinking
such water as was generally found in the tropics unless it were
first mixed with brandy; and this led me, before departing, to
buy a gallon demijohn — a bulging bottle destined to figure in a
ludicrous episode on my trip from sea to sea. I can recall little
of the voyage to the eastern coast of Nicaragua. We kept
well out at sea until we reached the Bahama Islands, when
we passed near Mariguana, felt our way through the Windward
Passage, and steered east of the Island of Jamaica; but I
recollect that it became warmer and warmer as we proceeded
farther south to about opposite Mosquito Gulf, where we
shifted our position in relation to the sun, and that we consumed
nine days in covering the two thousand miles or more between
New York and San Juan del Norte, or Grey Town.
14
i8s3] New York — Nicaragua — The Golden Gate 15
Prom San Juan del Norte — in normal times, a hamlet of
fotir or five hundred people clustered near one narrow, dirty
street — we proceeded up the San Juan River, nine hundred
passengers huddled together on three fiat-bottomed boats, until,
after three or four days, our progress was interfered with, at
Castillo Rapids, by a fall in the stream. There we had to dis-
embark and climb the rough grade, while our baggage was
carried up on a tramway ; after which we continued our journey
on larger boats, though still miserably packed together, tmtil
we had almost reached the mouth of Lake Nicaragua, when the
water became so shallow that we had to trust otuselves to the
uncertain bongos, or easily-overturned native canoes, or get out
again and walk. It would be impossible to describe the hard-
ships experienced on these crowded little steamboats, which
were by no means one quarter as large as the Hermosa, at
present plying between Los Angeles harbor and Catalina. The
only drinking water that we could get came from the river, and
it was then that my brandy served its purpose : with the addi-
tion of the liquor, I made the drink both palatable and safe.
Men, women and children, we were parched and packed like
so many herring, and at night there was not only practically no
space between passengers sleeping on deck, but the extremities
of one were sure to interfere with the body of another. The
heat was indeed intense; the mosquitoes seemed omnivorous;
to add to which, the native officers in charge of our expedition
pestered us with their mercenary proceedings. For a small
cup of black coffee, a charge of fifty cents was made, which
leaves the impression that food was scarce, else no one would
have consented to pay so much for so little. This part of the
trip was replete with misery to many, but fortunately for me,
although the transportation company provided absolutely no
conveniences, the hardships could not interfere with my enjoy-
ment of the delightful and even sublime scenery surrounding
us on all sides in this tropical country. As the river had no
great width, we were at close range to the changing panorama
on both banks; while the neighboring land was covered with
gorgeous jungles and vegetation. Here I first saw orange,
i6 Sixty Years in Southern California [1853
lemon and cocoanut trees. Monkeys of many kinds and sizes
were to be seen ; and birds of variegated colors were plentiful,
almost innumerable varieties of parrots being visible. All
these things were novel to me ; and notwithstanding the great
discomforts under which we traveled, I repeat that I enjoyed
myself.
A walk of a mile or two along the river bank, affording
beneficial exercise, brought us to Port San Carlos, from which
point a larger boat crossed the lake to Virgin Bay, where we took
mules to convey us to San Juan del Sur. This journey was as
full of hardship as it was of congeniality, and proved as inter-
esting as it was amusing. Imagine, if you please, nine hundred
men, women and children from northern climes, long accus-
tomed to the ways of civilization, suddenly precipitated, under
an intensely hot tropical sun, into a small, Central American
landing, consisting of a few huts and some cheap, improvised
tents (used for saloons and restaurants), every one in search
of a mule or a horse, the only modes of transportation. The
confusion necessarily following the preparation for this part of
the trip can hardly be imagined: the steamship company fur-
nished the army of animals, and the nervous tourists furnished
the jumble! Each one of the nine hundred travelers feared
that there would not be enough animals for all, and the anxiety
to secure a beast caused a stampede.
In the scramble, I managed to get hold of a fine mule, and
presently we were all mounted and ready to start. This con-
glomeration of hiunanity presented, indeed, a ludicrous sight;
and I really believe that I must have been the most grotesque
figure of them all. I have mentioned the demijohn of brandy,
which a friend advised me to buy; but I have not mentioned
another friend who told me that I shotdd be in danger of sun-
stroke in this climate, and who induced me to carry an um-
brella to protect myself from the fierce rays of the enervating sun.
Picture me, then, none too short and very lank, astride a mule,
a big demijohn in one hand, and a spreading, green umbrella
in the other, riding through this southern village, and prac-
tically incapable of contributing anything to the course of the
i853] New York — Nicaragua — The Golden Gate 17
mule. Had the animal been left to his own resources, he might
have followed the caravan; but in my ignorance, I attempted
to indicate to him which direction he should take. My method
was evidently not in accordance with the tradition of guiding
in just that part of the world ; and to make a long story short,
the mule, with his three-fold burden, deftly walked into a
restaurant, in the most innocent manner and to the very great
amusement of the diners, but to the terrible embarrassment
and consternation of the rider. After some difficulty (for the
restaiuant was hardly intended for such maneuvers as were
required), we were led out of the tent. This experience showed
me the necessity of abandoning either the umbrella or the
brandy; and learning that lemonade could be had at points
along the route, I bade good-bye to the demijohn and its ex-
hilarating contents. From this time on, although I still dis-
played inexpertness in control, his muleship and I gradually
learned to understand each other, and matters progressed very
well, notwithstanding the intense heat, and the fatigue natural
to riding so long in such an unaccustomed manner. The
lemonade, though warm and, therefore, dear at ten cents a
glass, helped to quench my thirst; and as the scenery was
wonderful, I derived all the benefit and pleastue possible from
the short journey.
All in all, we traversed about twelve miles on mule or horse-
back, and finally arrived, about four o'clock in the afternoon of
the day we had started, at San Juan del Sur, thus putting
behind us the most disagreeable part of this uncomfortable trip.
Here it may be interesting to add that on our way across the
Isthmus, we met a crowd of disappointed travelers returning
from the Golden Gate, on their way toward New York. They
were a discouraged lot and loudly declared that California was
nothing short of a fiasco; but, fortunately, there prevailed that
weakness of human nature which impels every man to earn his
own experience, else, following the advice of these discomfited
people, some of us might have retraced our steps and thus
completely altered our destinies. Not until the publication,
years later, of the Personal Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman,
1 8 Sixty Years in Southern California [issa
did I learn, with peculiar interest, that the then rising soldier,
returning to California with his young wife, infant child and
nurse, had actually embarked from New York on the same day
that I had, arriving in San Francisco the same day that I
arrived, and that therefore the Shermans, whose experience
with the mules was none the less trying and ridiculous than my
own, must have been members of the same party with me in
crossing the mosquito-infested Isthmus.
There was no appreciable variation in temperature while I
was in Nicaragua, and at San Juan del Sur (whose older por-
tion, much like San Juan del Norte, was a village of the Spanish-
American type with one main street, up and down which,
killing time, I wandered) the heat was just as oppressive as
it had been before. People often bunked in the open, a hotel-
keeper named Green renting hammocks, at one dollar each,
when all his beds had been taken. One of these hammocks I
engaged; but being unaccustomed to such an aerial lodging,
I was most unceremoniously spilled out, during a deep sleep
in the night, falling onlj^ a few feet, but seeming, to my stirred-
up imagination, to be sliding down through limitless space.
Here I may mention that this Nicaragua Route was the boom
creation of a competitive service generally understood to have
been initiated by those who intended, at the first opportunity,
to sell out; and that since everybody expected to pack and
move on at short notice, San Juan del Sur, suddenly enlarged
by the coming and going of adventurers, was for the moment
in part a community of tents, presenting a most unstable
appearance. A picturesque little creek flowed by the tov/n and
into the Pacific ; and there a fellow-traveler, L. Harris, and I
decided to refresh ourselves. This was no sooner agreed upon
than done; but a passer-by having excitedly informed us that
the creek was infested with alligators, we were not many seconds
in following his advice to scramble out, thereby escaping per-
haps a fate similar to that which overtook, only a few years
later, a near relative of Mrs. Henry Hancock.
At sundown, on the day after we arrived at San Juan del
Sur, the Pacific terminal, we were carried by natives through
i8s3] New York — Nicaragua — The Golden Gate 19
the surf to small boats, and so transferred to the steamer
Cortez; and then we started, amidst great rejoicing, on the
last lap of our journey. We steamed away in a northerly
direction, upon a calm sea and under the most favorable cir-
cumstances, albeit the intense heat was most tmpleasant. In
the course of about a week the temperature fell, for we were
steadily approaching a less tropical zone. Finally, on the i6th
of October, 1853, we entered the Golden Gate.
Notwithstanding the lapse of many years, this first visit to
San Francisco has never been forgotten. The beauty of the
harbor, the surrounding elevations, the magnificence of the
day, and the joy of being at my journey's end, left an impression
of delight which is still fresh and agreeable in my memorj''. All
San Francisco, so to speak, was drawn to the wharf, and enthusi-
asm ran wild. Jacob Rich, partner of my brother, was there to
meet me and, without ceremony, escorted me to his home ; and
under his hospitable roof I remained until the morning when
I was to depart for the still sunnier South.
San Francisco, in 1853, was much like a frontier town,
devoid of either style or other evidences of permanent progress ;
yet it was wide-awake and lively in the extreme. What little
had been built, bad and good, after the first rush of gold-seekers,
had been destroyed in the five or six fires that swept the city
just before I came, so that the best buildings I saw were of
hasty and, for the most part, of frame construction. Tents also,
of all sizes, shapes and colors, abounded. I was amazed, I
remember, at the lack of civilization as I understood it, at the
comparative absence of women, and at the spectacle of people
riding around the streets on horseback like mad. All sorts of
excitement seemed to fill the air ; everywhere there was a notice-
able lack of repose ; and nothing perhaps better fits the scene
I would describe than some lines from a popialar song of that
time entitled, San Francisco in iS^j :
City full of people,
In a business flurry;
Everybody's motto,
Hurry ! hurry ! hurry !
20 Sixty Years in Southern California USss
Every nook and corner
Full to overflowing:
Like a locomotive,
Everybody going !
One thing in particular struck me, and that was the un-
settled state of the surface on which the new town was being
built. I recall for example, the great quantity of sand that
was continually being blown into the streets from sand-dunes
uninterruptedly forming in the endless vacant lots, and how
people, after a hard wind at night, would find small sand-heaps
in front of their stores and residences ; so that, in the absence
of any municipal effort to keep the thoroughfares in order, the
owners were repeatedly engaged in sweeping away the acciimu-
lation of sand, lest they might be overwhelmed. The streets
were ungraded, although some were covered with planks for
pavement, and presented altogether such an aspect of tm-
certainty that one might well believe General Sherman's testi-
mony that, in winter time, he had seen mules fall, unable to rise,
and had even witnessed one drown in a pool of mud ! Sidewalks,
properly speaking, there were none. Planks and boxes — some
filled with produce not yet unpacked — were strung along in
irregular lines, requiring the poise of an acrobat to walk upon,
especially at night. As I waded through the sand-heaps or fell
over the obstructions designed as pavements, my thoughts
reverted, very naturally, to my brother who had preceded me
to San Francisco two years before; but it was not until some
years later that I learned that my distinguished fellow-country-
man, Heinrich Schliemann, destined to wander farther to
Greece and Asia Minor, and there to search for ancient Troy,
had not only knocked about the sand-lots in the same manner
in which I was doing, but, stirred by the discovery of gold and
the admission of California to the Union, had even taken on
American citizenship. Schliemann visited California in 1850
and became naturalized; nor did he ever, I believe, repudiate
the act which makes the greatest explorer of ancient Greece a
burgher of the United States!
During my short stay in San Francisco, before leaving for
18531 New York — Nicaragua — The Golden Gate 21
Los Angeles, I made the usual rounds under the guidance of
Jacob Rich. Having just arrived from the tropics, I was not
provided with an overcoat ; and since the air was chilly at night,
my host, who wore a talma or large cape, lent me a shawl,
shawls then being more used than they are now. Rich took
me to a concert that was held in a one-story wooden shack,
whereat I was much amazed ; and afterward we visited a num-
ber of places of louder revelry. Just as I found it to be a few
days later in Los Angeles, so San Francisco was filled with sa-
loons and gambling-houses ; and these institutions were in such
contrast to the features of European life to which I had been
accustomed, that they made a strong impression upon me.
There were no restrictions of any sort, not even including a
legal limit to their number, and people engaged in these enter-
prises because, in all probability, they were the most profitable.
Such resorts attracted criminals, or developed in certain
persons latent propensities to wrong-doing, and perhaps it is no
wonder that Walker, but the summer previous, should have
selected San Francisco as headquarters for his filibustering
expedition to Lower California. Bj^ far the most talked-of
man of that day was Harry Meiggs — popularly known as
"Honest Harry" — who was engaged in various enterprises,
and was a good patron of civic and church endeavor. He was
evidently the advance guard of the boomer organization, and
built the Long Wharf at North Beach, on a spot now at Com-
mercial and Montgomery streets, where later the Australian con-
vict, trying to steal a safe, was captured by the First VigUance
Committee ; and so much was Meiggs the envy of the less pyro-
technical though more substantial people, that I repeatedly
had my attention called, during my brief stay in San Fran-
cisco, to what was looked upon as his prodigious prosperity.
But Meiggs, useful as he was to the society of his daj^, finally
ended his career by forging a lot of city scrip (a great deal of
which he sold to W. T. Sherman and his banking associates),
and by absconding to Peru, where he became prominent as a
banker and a developer of mines.
Situated at the Plaza — where, but three years before, on
22 Sixty Years in Southern California [1853
the admission of California as a State, the meeting of gold-
seeking pioneers and lassoing natives had been symbolized
with streaming banners, and the thirty-one stars* were nailed
to a rude pole — was the El Dorado, the most luxurious
gambling-place and saloon in the West, despite the existence
near by of the Bella Union, the Parker House and the Empire.
Music, particularly native Spanish or Mexican airs, played
its part there, as well as other attractions ; and much of the
life of the throbbing town centered in that locality. It is my
impression that the water front was then Sansome Street ; and if
this be correct, it will afford some idea of the large territory in
San Francisco that is made ground.
As there was then no stage line between San Francisco and
the South, I was compelled to continue my journey by sea; and
on the morning of October i8th, I boarded the steamer Goliah
— whose Captain was Salisbury Haley, formerly a surveyor
from Santa Barbara — bound for Los Angeles, and advertised
to stop at Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and
one or two other landings formerly of importance but now more
or less forgotten. There were no wharves at any of those places ;
passengers and freight were taken ashore in small boats; and
when they approached shallow water, everything was carried
to dry land by the sailors. This performance gave rise, at
times, to most annoying situations; boats would capsize and
empty their passengers into the water, creating a merriment
enjoyed more by those who were secure than by the victims
themselves. On October 21st we arrived a mile or so off San
Pedro, and were disembarked in the manner above described,
having luckily suffered no such mishap as that which befell
passengers on the steamship Winfield Scott who, jovuneying
from PanamS, but a month or so later, at midnight struck
one of the Anacapa Islands, now belonging to Ventura County,
running dead on to the rocks. The vessel in time was smashed
to pieces, and the passengers, several hundred in number, were
forced to camp on the island for a week or more.
Almost from the time of the first visit of a steamer to San
Pedro, the Gold Hunter (a side-wheeler which made the voyage
1853] New York — Nicaragua — The Golden Gate 23
from San Francisco to Mazatlan in 1849), and certainly from
the day in January of that same year when Temple & Alexander
put on their four-wheeled vehicle, costing one thousand dollars
and the second in the county, there was competition in
transporting passengers to Los Angeles. Phineas Banning,
Augustus W. Timms, J. J. Tomlinson, John Goller, David W.
Alexander, Jose Riibio and B. A. Townsend were among the
most enterprising commission men; and their keen rivalry
brought about two landings — one controlled by Banning, who
had come to Los Angeles in 1851, and the other by Timms, after
whom one of the terminals was named. Before I left San
Francisco, Rich provided me with a letter of introduction
to Banning — who was then known, if I remember aright, as
Captain, though later he was called successively Major and
General — at the same time stating that this gentleman
was a forwarding merchant. Now, in European cities where
I had heretofore lived, commission and forwarding merchants
were a dignified and, to my way of thinking, an aristocratic class,
which centturies of business experience had brought to a genteel
perfection; and they would have found themselves entirely
out of their element had their operations demanded their sudden
translation, in the fifties, to the west coast of America. At
any rate, upon arriving at San Pedro I had expected to find a
man dressed either in a uniform or a Prince Albert, with a high
hat and other appropriate appurtenances, and it is im-
possible to describe my astonishment when Banning was
pointed out to me ; for I knew absolutely nothing of the rough
methods in vogue on the Pacific Coast. There stood before
me a very large, powerful man, coatless and vestless, without
necktie or collar, and wearing pantaloons at least six inches
too short, a pair of brogans and socks with large holes; while
bright-colored suspenders added to the picturesque effect of
his costume. It is not my desire to ridicule a gentleman who,
during his lifetime, was to be a good, constant friend of
mine, but rather to give my readers some idea of life in the
West, as well as to present my first impressions of Southern
California. The fact of the matter is that Banning, in his ovra
24 Sixty Years in Southern California [i8s3
way, was even then such a man of affairs that he had bought,
but a few months before, some fifteen wagons and nearly five
times as many mules, and had paid almost thirty thousand
dollars for them. I at once delivered the letter in which Rich
had stated that I had but a smattering of English and that it
would be a favor to him if Banning would help me safely on my
way to Los Angeles; and Banning, having digested the contents
of the communication, looked me over from head to foot, shook
hands and, in a stentorian voice — loud enough, I thought, to
be heard beyond the hills — good-naturedly called out, "Wie
geht's?" After which, leading the waj^, and shaking hands
again, he provided me with a good place on the stage.
Not a minute was lost between the arrival of passengers
and the departure of coaches for Los Angeles in the early
fifties. The competition referred to developed a racing
tendency that was the talk of the pueblo. The company that
made the trip in the shortest time usually obtained, through
lively betting, the best of advertising and the largest patronage ;
so that, from the moment of leaving San Pedro until the final
arrival in Los Angeles two and a half hours later, we tore along
at breakneck speed, over roads slowly traveled, but a few
years before,by Stockton's cannon. These roads never having
been cared for, and still less inspected, were abominably bad;
and I have often wondered that during such contests there
were not more accidents. The stages were of the common
Western variety, and four to six broncos were always a feature
of the equipment. No particular attention had been given to
the harness, and everything was niore or less primitive. The
stage was provided with four rows of seats and each row, as a
rule, was occupied by four passengers, the front row including
the oft-bibulous driver ; and the fare was five dollars.
Soon after leaving San Pedro, we passed thousands of
ground squirrels, and never having seen anj^thing of the kind
before, I took them for ordinary rats. This v/as not an attrac-
tive discovery ; and when later we drove by a number of ranch
houses and I saw beef cut into strings and hung up over fences
to dry, it looked as though I had landed on another planet.
i8s3] New York — Nicaragua — The Golden Gate 25
I soon learned that dried beef or, as the natives here called
it, came seca (more generally known, perhaps, at least among
frontiersmen, as "jerked" beef or jerky) was an important
article of food in Southern California; but from the remi-
niscences of various pioneers I have known, it evidently as-
tonished others as much as it did me.
Having reached the Half -Way Plouse, we changed horses;
then we continued and approached Los Angeles by San Pedro
Street, which was a narrow lane, possibly not more than ten
feet wide, with growing vineyards bordered by willow trees on
each side of the road. It was on a Sunday and in the midst of
the grape season that I first beheld the City of the Angels ; and
to these facts in particular I owe another odd and unfavorable
first impression of the neighborhood. Much of the work
connected with the grape industry was done by Indians and
native Mexicans, or Californians, as they were called, and every
Saturday evening they received their pay. During Saturday
night and all day Sunday, they drank themselves into hilarity
and intoxication, and this dissipation lasted until Sunday
night. Then they slept off their sprees and were ready
to work Monday morning. During each period of excite-
ment, from one to three or four of these revelers were
murdered. Never having seen Indians before, I supposed them
to represent the citizenship of Los Angeles — an amusing error
for which I might be pardoned when one reflects that nine out
of forty-four of the founders of Los Angeles were Indians, and
that, according to an official census made the year before, Los
Angeles County in 1852 had about thirty-seven hundred
domesticated Indians among a population of a little over
four thousand whites; and this mistake as to the typical
burgher, together with my previous experiences, added to my
amazement.
At last, with shouts and yells from the competing drivers,
almost as deafening as the horn-blowing of a somewhat later
date, and hailed apparently by every inhabitant and dog
along the route, we arrived at the only real hotel in town, the
Bella Union, where stages stopped and every city ftinction
26 Sixty Years in Southern California [iSsal
took place. This hotel was a one-story, adobe house enlarged
in 1858 to two stories, and located on Main Street above Com-
mercial; and Dr. Obed Macy, who had bought it the previous
spring from Winston & Hodges, was the proprietor.
My friend, Sam Meyer (now deceased, but for fifty years
or more treasurer of Forty-two, the oldest Masonic lodge in
Los Angeles), who had come here a few months in advance of
me, awaited the arrival of the stage and at once recognized
me by my costume, which was anything but in harmony with
Southern California fashions of that time. My brother, J. P.
Newmark, not having seen me for several years, thought that
our meeting ought to be private, and so requested Sam to show
me to his store. I was immediately taken to my brother's
place of business where he received me with great affection;
and there and then we renewed that sympathetic association
which continued many years, tmtn his death in 1895.
\ UMi rDmoiii: Miiii mm: mm imm mm
s\: --■**-.;
Bella Union as it Appeared in 1858
From a lithograph
,-.,^«,;cenLACKSN-^
John GoUer's Blacksmith Shop
From a lithograph of 1838
CHAPTER IV
FIRST ADVENTXJRES IN LOS ANGELES
1853
ONCE fairly well settled here, I began to clerk for my
brother, who in 1852 had bought out a merchant named
Howard. For this service I received my lodging, the
cost of my board, and thirty dollars each month. The charges
for board at the Bella Union — then enjoying a certain prestige,
through having been the ofificial residence of Pio Pico when
Stockton took the city — were too hea\^, and arrangements
were made with a Frenchman named John La Rue, who had
a restaurant on the east side of Los Angeles Street, about two
hundred feet south of Bell's Row. I paid him nine dollars a
week for three more or less hearty meals a day, not including
eggs, unless I provided them; in this case he agreed to prepare
them for me. Eggs were by no means scarce; but steaks and
mutton and pork chops were the popular choice, and potatoes
and vegetables a customary accompaniment.
This La Rue, or Leroux, as he was sometimes called, was an
interesting personality with an interesting history. Born in
France, he sailed for the United States about the time of the
discovery of gold in California, and made his way to San Fran-
cisco and the mines, where luck encouraged him to venture
farther and migrate to Mazatlan, Mexico. While prospecting
there, however, he was twice set upon and robbed; and barely
escaping with his life, he once more turned northward, this time
stopping at San Pedro and Los Angeles. Here, meeting Miss
27
28 Sixty Years in Southern California [1853
Bridget Johnson, a native of Ireland, who had just come from
New York by way of San Diego, La Rue married her, notwith-
standing their inability to speak each other's language, and then
opened a restaurant, which he continued to conduct until 1858
when he died, as the result of exposure at a fire on Main Street.
Although La Rue was in no sense an eminent citizen, it is
certain that he was esteemed and mourned. Prior to his death,
he had bought thirty or thirty-five acres of land, on which he
planted a vineyard and an orange-orchard; and these his wife
inherited. In 1862, Madame La Rue married John Wilson,
also a native of Ireland, who had come to Los Angeles during
the year that the restaurateur died. He was a blacksmith and
worked for John Goller, continuing in business for over twenty
years, and adding greatly, by industry and wise management,
to the dowry brought him by the thrifty widow.
I distinctly recall La Rue's restaurant, and quite as clearly
do I remember one or two humorous experiences there. Noth-
ing in Los Angeles, perhaps, has ever been cruder than this
popular eating-place. The room, which faced the street, had a
mud-floor and led to the kitchen through a narrow opening.
Half a dozen cheap wooden tables, each provided with two
chairs, stood against the walls. The tablecloths were generally
dirty, and the knives and forks, as well as the furniture, were
of the homeliest kind. The food made up in portions what it
lacked in quality, and the diner rarely had occasion to leave the
place hungry. What went most against my grain was the
slovenliness of the proprietor himself. Flies were very thick in
the summer months ; and one day I found a big fellow splurging
in my bowl of soup. This did not, however, feaze John La Rue.
Seeing the struggling insect, he calmly dipped his coffee-colored
fingers into the hot liquid and, quite as serenely, drew out the
fly; and although one could not then be as fastidious as nowa-
days, I nevertheless found it impossible to eat the soup.
On another occasion, however, mine host's equanimity
was disturbed. I had given him two eggs one morning, to pre-
pare for me, when Councilman A. Jacobi, a merchant and also
a customer of La Rue's, came in for breakfast, bringing one
i8s3] First Adventures in Los Angeles 29
more egg than mine. Presently my meal, unusually generous,
was served, and without loss of time I disposed of it and
was about to leave; when just then Jacobi discovered that the
small portion set before him could not possibly contain the three
eggs he had supplied. Now, Jacobi was not only possessed of a
considerable appetite, but had as well a definite unwillingness
to accept less than his due, while La Rue, on the other hand,
was very easily aroused to a high pitch of Gallic excitement ;
so that in less time than is required to relate the story, the two
men were embroiled in a genuine Franco-Prussian dispute, all
on account of poor La Rue's unintentional interchange of the
two breakfasts. Soon after this encounter, Jacobi, who was
an amateur violinist of no mean order, and had fiddled himself
into the affections of his neighbors, left for Berlin with a snug
fortune, and there after some years he died.
Having arranged for my meals, my brother's next provision
was for a sleeping-place. A small, unventilated room adjoining
the store was selected; and there I rested on an ordinary cot
furnished with a mattress, a pillow, and a pair oi frazadas, or
blankets. According to custom, whatever of these covers I re-
quired were taken each evening from stock, and the next morn-
ing they were returned to the shelves. Stores as well as houses
were then almost without stoves or fireplaces ; and as it grew
colder, I found that the blankets gave little or no warmth.
Indeed they were nothing more or less, notwithstanding their
slight mixture of wool, than ordinary horse-blankets, on which
account in winter I had to use five or six of them to enjoy any
comfort whatever ; and since I experienced difficulty in keeping
them on the cot, I resorted at last to the device of tacking them
down on one side.
In 1853, free-and-easy customs were in vogue in Los Angeles,
permitting people in the ordinary affairs of life to do prac-
tically as they pleased. There were few if any restrictions ; and
if circumscribing City ordinances existed — except, perhaps,
those of 1850 which, while licensing gaming places, forbade the
playing of cards on the street — I do not remember what they
were. As was the case in San Francisco, neither saloons nor
32 Sixty Years In Southern California [1853
ducted in an orderly manner, and catered to the most fastidious
people of Los Angeles, supplying liquors of a correspondingly
high grade; the charge for a drink there being invariably
twenty -five cents. It was provided with a billiard parlor, where
matches were often arranged for a stake of hundreds of dollars.
Games of chance there were for every requirement, the long
and the short purse being equally well accommodated. The
ranch owner could bet his hundreds, while he of lowlier estate
might tempt the fickle goddess according to his narrower
means.
A fraternity of gamblers almost indigenous to California,
and which has been celebrated and even, • to an extent,
glorified by such writers as Mark Twain, Bret Harte and
others, was everywhere then in evidence in Los Angeles; and
while it is true that their vocation was illegitimate, many
of them represented nevertheless a splendid type of man:
generous, honest in methods, courageous in operations and
respected by everybody. It would be impossible, perhaps, to
describe this class as I knew them and at the same time to
satisfy the modern ideal; but pioneers will confirm my tribute
to these early gamesters (among whom they may recall Brand
Phillips) and their redeeming characteristics.
As I have said, my brother, J. P. Newmark, was in partner-
ship with Jacob Rich, the gentleman who met me when I
reached San Francisco; their business being dry-goods and
clothing. They were established in J. N. Padilla's adobe on the
southeast corner of Main and Requena streets, a site so far
"out of town" that success was possible only because of their
catering to a wholesale clientele rather than to the retail trade ;
and almost opposite them, ex-Mayor John G. Nichols con-
ducted a small grocery in a store that he built on the Main
Street side of the property now occupied by Temple Block.
There was an old adobe wall running north and south along the
east line of the lot, out of which Nichols cut about fifteen feet,
using this property to a depth of some thirty feet, thus forming
a rectangular space which he enclosed. Here he carried on a
modest trade which, even in addition to his other cares, scarcely
i8s3] First Adventures in Los Angeles 33
demanded his whole time ; so that he would frequently visit his
neighbors, among whom Newmark & Rich were his nearest
friends. Often have I seen him therefore, long and lank, seated
in my brother's store tilted back in a chair against the wall or
merchandise, a cigar, which he never lighted, in his mouth, ex-
horting his hearers to be patriotic and to purchase City land at
a dollar an acre, thereby furnishing some of the taxes necessary
to lubricate the municipal machinery. Little did any of us
realize, as we listened to this man, that in the course of another
generation or so there would spring into life a prosperous
metropolis whose very heart would be situated near where old
Mayor Nichols was vainly endeavoring to dispose of thirty-
five-acre bargains at thirty-five dollars each — a feature of
municipal cooperation with prospective settlers which was in-
augurated August 13th, 1852, and repealed through dissatisfac-
tion in 1854. Nichols, who, with J. S. Mallard and Lewis
Granger, brought one of the first three American families to
settle here permanently, and who married a sister of Mrs.
Mallard, was the father of John Gregg Nichols, always claimed
to be the first boy born (April 24th, 1 851), of American parents,
in Los Angeles. Nichols when Mayor was never neglectful of
his official duties, as may be seen from his record in providing
Hancock's survey, his construction of the Bath Street School,
his encouragement of better irrigation facilities, his introduc-
tion of the first fruit grafts — brought, by the way, from far-
off New York — and his reelection as Mayor in 1856, 1857, and
1858. In 1869, another son, Daniel B. Nichols, of whom I shall
speak, was a participant in a fatal shooting affray here.
A still earlier survey than that of Hancock was made by
Lieutenant Edward 0. C. Ord — later distinguished in the
Union Army where, singularly enough, he was fighting with
Rosecrans, in time a resident of Los Angeles — who, in an effort
to bring order out of the pueblo chaos, left still greater confusion.
To clear up the difficulty of adobes isolated or stranded in the
middle of the streets, the Common Council in 1854 permitted
owners to claim a right of way to the thoroughfares nearest
their houses. This brings to mind the fact that the vara, a
34 Sixty Years in Southern California [1853
Spanish unit equal to about thirty-three inches, was a standard
in real estate measiirements even after the advent of Ord,
Hancock and Hansen, who were followed by such surveyors as
P. J. Virgen (recalled by Virgen Street) and his partner Hardy;
and also that the reata was often used as a yardstick — ^its
uncertain length having contributed, without doubt, to the
chaotic condition confronting Ord.
Graded streets and sidewalks were unknown; hence, after
heavy winter rains mud was from six inches to two feet deep,
while during the summer dust piled up to about the same extent.
Few City ordinances were obeyed; for notwithstanding that a
regulation of the City Council called on every citizen to sweep
in front of his house to a certain point on Saturday evenings,
not the slightest attention was paid to it. Into the roadway
was thrown all the rubbish: if a man bought a new suit of
clothes, a pair of boots, a hat or a shirt, to replace a correspond-
ing part of his apparel that had outlived its usefulness, he woiold
think nothing, on attiring himself in the new purchase, of toss-
ing the discarded article into the street where it would remain
until some passing Indian, or other vagabond, took possession
of it. So wretched indeed were the conditions, that I have seen
dead animals left on the highways for days at a time, and can
recall one instance of a horse dying on Alameda Street and
lying there until a party of Indians cut up the carcass for food.
What made these street conditions more trying was the fact
that on hot days roads and sidewalks were devoid of shade, ex-
cept for that furnished by a few scattered trees or an occasional
projecting veranda; while at night (if I except the illumination
from the few lanterns suspended in front of barrooms and stores)
thoroughfares were altogether unlighted. In those nights of
dark streets and still darker tragedies, people rarely went out
unless equipped with candle-burning lanterns, at least until
camphine was imported by my brother, after which this was
brought into general use. Stores were lighted in the same
manner: first with candles, then with camphine and finally
with coal-oil, during which period of advancement lamps re-
placed the cruder contrivances.
i853] First Adventures in Los Angeles 35
Southern California from the first took an active part in
State affairs. Edward Hunter and Charles E. Carr were the
Assemblymen from this district in 1853; and the following year
they were succeeded by Francis Melius and Dr. Wilson W.
Jones. Carr was a lawyer who had come in 1852; Hunter
afterward succeeded Pablo de la Guerra as Marshal. Jones was
the doctor who just about the time I came, while returning
from a professional call at the Lugos at about sunset, nearly
rode over the bleeding and still warm body of a cattle-buyer
named Porter, on Alameda Street. The latter had been out to
the Dominguez rancho, to purchase stock, and had taken along
with him a Mexican named Manuel Vergara who introduced
himself as an experienced interpreter and guide, but who was,
in reality, a cutthroat with a record of one or two assassina-
tions. Vergara observed that Porter possessed considerable
money ; and on their way back to Los Angeles shot the Ameri-
can from behind. Jones quickly gave the alarm; and Banning,
Stanley and others of the volunteer mounted police pursued
the murderer for eighty-five or ninety miles when, the ammuni-
tion of all parties being exhausted, Vergara turned on the one
Vigilante who had caught up with him and, with an adroit thrust
of his knife, cut the latter's bridle and escaped. In the end,
however, some of Major Heintzelman's cavalry at Yuma (who
had been informed by a fleet Indian hired to carry the news of
the fugitive's flight) overtook Vergara and shot him dead.
These volunteer police or Rangers, as they were called, were a
company of one hundred or more men under command of Dr.
A. W. Hope, and included such well-known early settlers as
Nichols, J. G. Downey, S. C. Foster, Agustin Olvera, Juan
Sepulveda, Horace Bell, M. Keller, Banning, Benjamin Hayes,
F. L. Guirado, David Alexander, J. L. Brent and I. S. K. Ogier.
Under the new order of things, too, following the adoption
in 1849 of a State constitution. County organization in Los
Angeles was effected; and by the time I declared myself for
American citizenship, several elections had been held. Ben-
jamin Hayes was District Judge in 1853; Agustin Olvera was
finishing his term as County Judge; Dr. Wilson W. Jones was
36 Sixty Years in Southern California [1853
County Clerk and Recorder — two offices not separated for
twenty years or until 1873; Lewis Granger was County
Attorney; Henry Hancock was Siirveyor; Francis Melius
(who succeeded Don Manuel Garfias, once the princely owner
but bad manager of the San Pasqual rancho), was Treasurer;
A. F. Coronel was Assessor; James R. Barton was Sheriff and
also Collector of Taxes; and J. S. Mallard, whose name was
given to Mallard Street, was Coroner. Russell Sackett was a
Justice of the Peace here when I arrived; and after a while
Mallard had a court as Justice, near my store on Commercial
Street. All in all, a group of rather strong men !
The administrative officials of both the City and the
County had their headquarters in the one-story adobe building
at the northwest corner of Franklin Alley (later called Jail
Street') and Spring Street. In addition to those mentioned,
there was a Justice of the Peace, a Zavjero, and a Jailer. An-
tonio Franco Coronel had but recently succeeded Nichols as
Mayor; A. S. Beard was Marshal and Tax Collector; Judge
William G. Dryden was Clerk; C. E. Carr was Attorney;
Ygnacio Coronel was Assessor; and S. Arbuckle was Treasurer.
Antonio Franco Coronel, after whom Coronel Street is
named, had just entered upon the duties of Mayor, and was
busy enough with the disposal of donation lots when I first
commenced to observe Los Angeles' government. He came
from Mexico to California with his father, Don Ygnacio F.
Coronel; and by 1850 he was the first County Assessor. He
lived at what is now Alameda and Seventh streets, and had a
brother, Manuel, who was City Assessor in 1858.
Major Henry Hancock, a New Hampshire lawyer and
surveyor, came to Los Angeles in 1852, and at the time of my
arrival had just made the second survey of the city, defining
the boundaries of the thirty-five-acre City lots. I met him
frequently, and by 1859 I was well acquainted with him. He
then owed Newmark, Kremer & Company some money and
offered, toward liquidation of the debt, one hundred and ten
acres of land lying along Washington and extending as far as
'In April, 1872, ofificially named Franklin Street.
i853] First Adventures in Los Angeles 37
the present Pico Street. It also reached from Main Street to
what is now Grand Avenue-. Newmark, Kremer & Company-
did not wish the land, and so arranged with Hancock to take
firewood instead. From time to time, therefore, he brought
great logs into town, to be cut up ; he also bought a circular saw,
which he installed, with horse-power and tread-mill, in a vacant
lot on Spring Street, back of Joseph Newmark's second resi-
dence. The latter was on Main Street, between First and the
northern junction of Main and Spring ; and between this junction
and First Street, it may be interesting to note, there was in
1853 no thoroughfare from Main to Spring. As I was living
there, I acted as his agent for the sale of the wood that was left
after our settlement. The fact is that Hancock was always
land poor, and never out of debt ; and when he was particularly
hard up, he parted with his possessions at whatever price they
would bring. The Major (earlier known as Captain Hancock,
who enjoyed his titles through his association with the militia)
retained, however, the celebrated La Brea rancho — bought at a
very early date from A. J. Rocha, and lying between the city
and the sea — which he long thought would furnish oil, but
little dreamt would also contain some of the most important
prehistoric finds ; and this ranch, once managed by his wife, a
daughter of Colonel Augustin Haraszthy, the San Francisco
pioneer, is now owned by his son, George Allan Hancock.
George Hansen, to whose far-reaching foresight we owe the
Elysian Park of to-day, was another professional man who was
here before I reached Los Angeles, having come to California
in 1850, by way of Cape Horn and Peru. When he arrived at
Los Angeles, in 1853, as he was fond of recounting, he was too
poor to possess even surveying instruments; but he found a
friend in John Temple, who let him have one hiuidred dollars
at two per cent, interest per month, then a very low rate.
Thereupon Hansen sent to San Francisco for the outfit that
enabled him to establish himself. I met Hansen for the first
time in the last few weeks of 1853, when he came to my brother's
store to buy a suit of clothes, his own being in rags. He had
been out, very probably, on an expedition such as subjected
38 Sixty Years in Southern California [1853
a surveyor, particularly in the early days, to much hard work
and fatigue. Hansen, a good student and fine linguist, was
prominent for many years and made more land measiirements
hereabouts than did any one else ; he had the real management,
in fact, of Hancock's second survey.
Among others who were here, I might mention the Wheeler
brothers. Colonel John Ozias Wheeler, at various times an
office-holder, came to California from Florida, and having
endured many hardships on the trip along the Mississippi,
Arkansas and Gila rivers, arrived at the Chino rancho on August
I2th, 1849, afterward assisting Isaac Williams in conveying a
train of supplies back to the Colorado River. The next year
he was joined by his brother, Horace Z. Wheeler, who came by
way of the Isthmus, and later rose to be Appraiser-General of
the Imperial Customs at Yokohama; and the two young men
were soon conducting a general merchandise business in Los
Angeles — if I recollect aright, in a one-story adobe at the
northeast corner of Main and Commercial streets. Extravagant
stories have been printed as to Wheeler's mercantile operations,
one narrative crediting him with sales to the extent of five
thousand dollars or more a day. In those times, however, no
store was large enough to contain such a stock; and two
successive days of heavy sales would have been impossible. In
1 85 1 Colonel Wheeler, who had been on General Andres
Pico's staff, served as a Ranger; and in 1853 he organized the
first military company in Los Angeles.
Manuel Requena, from Yucatan, was another man of in-
fluence. He lived on the east side of Los Angeles Street, north
of the thoroughfare opened through his vineyard and named
after him — later extended east of Los Angeles Street. As early
as June, 1836, Requena, then Alcalde, made a census of this
district. He was a member of the first, as well as the second,
third, fifth and seventh Common Councils, and with David W.
Alexander was the only member of the first body to serve out
the entire term. In 1852, Requena was elected a Supervisor.
Mrs. Requena was a sister of Mrs. Alexander BeU and Mrs.
James, or Santiago Johnson, and an aunt of Henry and Francis
i8s3] First Adventures in Los Angeles 39
Melius and Mrs. J. H. Lander. Requena died on June 27th,
1876, aged seventy-four years.
Henry N. Alexander appeared in Los Angeles at about the
same time that I did — possibly afterward — and was very active
as a Ranger. He too occupied positions of trust, in business
as well as public life, being both City and County Treasurer —
in the latter case, preceding Maurice Kremer. It is not sur-
prising, therefore, that he became Wells Fargo & Company's
agent when much uphill work had to be done to establish
their interests here. He married a daughter of Don Pedro
Dominguez. Alexander moved to Arizona, after which I lost
track of him.
John W. Shore, who was here in 1853, was County Clerk
from 1854 to 1857, and again from i860 to 1863. He always
canvassed for votes on horseback until, one day, he fell off and
broke his leg, necessitating amputation. This terminated his
active campaigns; but through sympathy he was reelected, and
by a larger majority. Shore was a Democrat.
Mention of public officials leads me to speak of an interest-
ing personality long associated with them. On the west side of
Spring Street near First, where the Schumacher Building
now stands, John Schumacher conducted, in a single room, as
was then common, a grocery store and bar. A good-hearted,
honest German of the old school, and a first-class citizen,
he had come from Wurtemberg to America, and then, with
Stevenson's Regiment, to California, arriving in Los Angeles
in 1847 or 1848. From here he went to Sutter's Creek, where he
found a nugget of gold worth eight hundred dollars, for which
he was offered land in San Francisco later worth millions — a
tender which the Wurtemberger declined; and the same year
that I arrived, he returned to Los Angeles, whose activity had
increased considerably since he had last seen it. In 1855,
Schumacher married Fraulein Mary Uhrie, from which union
six children including two sons, John and Frank G. Schumacher,
were born. The eldest daughter became Mrs. Edward A.
Preuss. Schumacher established his store, having bought
nearly the whole block bounded by Spring and First streets
40 Sixty Years in Southern California [isss
and Franklin Alley for the value of his famous gold nugget;
and there he remained until the early seventies, the Schumacher
Block being built, as I have said, on a part of the property.
Mrs. Schumacher in 1880 met with a tragic death: while at the
railway station in Merced, she was jolted from the platform
of a car and was instantly killed.
For something else, however, Schumacher was especially
known. When he returned in 1853, he put on sale the first lager
beer introduced into Los Angeles, importing the same from San
Francisco, of which enterprise the genial German was proud;
but Schumacher acquired even more fame for a drink that he
may be said to have invented, and which was known to the
early settlers as Peach and Honey. It contained a good mixture
with peach brandy, and was a great favorite, especially with
politicians and frequenters of the neighboring Courthouse,
including well-known members of the Bar, all of whom crowded
John's place, "between times," to enjoy his much-praised
concoction. Whenever in fact anyone had a cold, or fancied
that he was going to be so afflicted, he hastened to John for his
reputedly-certain cure. Schumacher, who served as Councilman
in 1855, 1856 and 1857, was proficient in languages and, as an
interpreter, often gave his time and services freely in assisting
his less-gifted neighbors, particularly the poor and unfortunate,
to straighten out their affairs. In the fall of i860, he had a
narrow escape through the carelessness of a customer who
threw a lighted match into a can of powder. Schumacher
owned some acreage in what was known as the Green Meadows,
a section located near what is now South Figueroa Street ; and
this land he held with Jacob Bell, who was assassinated, as I
shall relate, by a Frenchman named Lachenais — hanged, in
turn, by an exasperated mob.
Most political meetings of that period took place at the
Plaza home of Don Ygnacio Del Valle, first County Recorder.
From 1 84 1, Don Ygnacio lived for some time on the San Fran-
cisco rancho granted by the King of Spain to his father and con-
firmed by patent in 1875. He also owned the more famous
Camulos rancho on the Santa Clara River, consisting of several
i8s3] First Adventures in Los Angeles 41
thousand acres north and west of Newhall, afterward selected
by Helen Hunt Jackson as the setting for some of the scenes in
her novel, Ramona; and these possessions made him a man of
great importance. During his later life, when he had abandoned
his town residence, Del Valle dwelt in genteel leisure at the
rancho, dying there in 1880; and I will not miss this opportunity
to attest his patrician bearing and genial qualities.
At the time of my arrival, there was but one voting precinct
and the polling place was located at the old municipal and
County adobe already spoken of ; although later a second polls
was established at the Round House. Inside the room, sat the
election judges and clerks; outside a window, stood the jam of
voters. The window-sill corresponded to the thickness of the
adobe wall, and was therefore about three feet deep. This sill
served as a table, upon it being placed a soap- or candle-box,
into which a hole had been cut for the deposit of the votes.
There was also no register, either great or small, and anyone
could vote. Each party printed its own tickets; and so could
any candidate. This resulted in great confusion, since there
were- always many tickets in the field — as many, in fact, as
there were candidates; yet the entire proceeding had become
legalized by custom. The candidate of one party could thus
use the ticket of the other, substituting his own name for his
opponent's, and leaving all of the remainder of the ticket un-
changed; in addition to which there was such a lack of uni-
formity in the size and color of the ballots as greatly to add to
the confusion in counting.
To make matters worse, the ballot-box was not easily
reached because of the crowd which was made up largely
of the candidates and their friends. Challenging was the
order of the day; yet, after crimination and recrimination, the
votes were generally permitted to be cast. Although it is true,
of cotuse, that many votes were legitimate, yet aliens such as
Mexicans, who had not even considered the question of taking
out citizenship papers, were permitted to vote while Indians and
half-breeds, who were not eligible to citizenship at all, were ir-
regularly given the franchise. The story is told of an election
42 Sixty Years in Southern California [i8s3
not far from Los Angeles at which a whole tribe of Indians
was voted ; while on another occasion the names on a steamer's
passenger-list were utilized by persons who had already voted,
that very day, once or twice! Cutting off the hair, shaving
one's beard or mustache, reclothing or otherwise transforming
the appearance of the voter — these were some of the tricks
then practiced, which the new registry law of 1866 only
partially did away with.
Sonorans, who had recently arrived from Mexico, as well as
the aliens I have mentioned, were easy subjects for the political
manipulator. The various candidates, for example, would
round-up these prospective voters like so many cattle, confine
them in corrals (usually in the neighborhood of Boyle
Heights), keep them in a truly magnificent state of intoxica-
tion until the eventful morning, and then put them in stages
hired from either Banning or Tomlinson for the purpose; and
from the time the temporary prisoners left the corral until
their votes had been securely deposited, they were closely
watched by guards. On reaching the voting place, the captives
were unloaded from the stage like so much inanimate baggage,
and turned over to friends of the candidate to whom, so to
speak, for the time being they belonged. One at a time, these
creatures were led to vote ; and as each staggered to the ballot-
box, a ticket was held up and he was made to deposit it.
Once having served the purpose, he was turned loose and re-
mained free until another election unless, as I have intimated,
he and his fellows were again corralled and made to vote a
second or even a third time the same day.
Nearly all influential Mexicans were Democrats, so that
this party easily controlled the political situation; from which
circumstance a certain brief campaign ended in a most amusing
manner. It happened that Thomas H. Workman, brother of
William H., once ran for County Clerk, although he was not a
Democrat. Billy was naturally much interested in his brother's
candidacy, and did what he could to help him. On the evening
before election, he rented a corral — located near what is now
Macy Street and Mission Road, on property later used by
i853] First Adventures in Los Angeles 43
Charles F., father of Alfred Stern, and for years in partnership
with L. J. Rose ; and there, with the assistance of some friends,
he herded together about one hundred docUe though illegal
voters, most of whom were Indians, kept them all night and,
by supplying fire-water liberally, at length led them into the
state of bewilderment necessary for such an occasion. The
Democratic leaders, however, having learned of this magnifi-
cent coup, put their heads together and soon resolved to thwart
Billy's plan. In company with some prominent Mexican
politicians led by Tomas Sanchez, they loaded themselves
into a stage and visited the corral; and once arrived there,
those that could made such flowery stump speeches in the
native language of the horde that, in fifteen or twenty minutes,
they had stampeded the whole band ! Billy entered a vigorous
protest, saying that the votes were his and that it was a
questionable and even a damnable trick; but all his protests
were of no avail: the bunch of corralled voters had been cap-
tured in a body by the opposition, deciding the contest. These
were the methods then in vogue in accordance with which it
was considered a perfectly legitimate transaction to buy votes,
and there was no secret made of the modus operandi by either
party.
During these times of agitated politics, newspapers (such as
they were) played an important part. In them were published
letters written by ambitious candidates to themselves and
signed, "The People," "A Disinterested Citizen," or some
equally anonymous phrase. As an exception to the usual
maneuver, however, the following witty announcement was
once printed by an office-seeker:
George N. Whitman, not having been requested by "Many
Friends, " or solicited by "Many Voters, " to become a candi-
date for the office of Township Constable, at the end of the
ensuing September election, offers himself.
Here I am reminded of an anecdote at the expense of John
Quincy Adams Stanley, who in 1856 ran for Sheriff against
David W. Alexander, and was County Assessor in the middle
44 Sixty Years in Southern California U853]
seventies. Stanley was a very decent but somewhat over-
trusting individual; and ignoring suggestions as to expendi-
tures for votes, too readily believed promises of support by the
voters of the county, almost every one of whom gave him a
favorable pledge in the course of the campaign. When the
ballots were counted, however, and Stanley learned that he
had received just about fifty votes, he remarked, rather dryly:
"I didn't know that there were so many damned liars in the
county!"
Another interesting factor in early elections was the vote
of Tehachepi, then in Los Angeles County. About thirty votes
were cast there; but as communication with Los Angeles was
irregular, it was sometimes necessary to wait a week or more
to know what bearing the decision of Tehachepi had on the
general result.
CHAPTER V
LAWYERS AND COURTS
1853
IN the primitive fifties there were but comparatively few re-
putable lawyers in this neighborhood ; nor was there, per-
haps, sufficient call for their services to insure much of a
living to many more. To a greater extent even than now,
attorneys were called "Judge;" and at the time whereof I
write, the most important among them were Jonathan R.
Scott, Benjamin Hayes, J. Lancaster Brent, Myron Norton,
General Ezra Drown, Benjamin S. Eaton, Cameron E. Thom,
James H. Lander, Lewis Granger, Isaac Stockton Keith Ogier,
Edward J. C. Kewen and Joseph R. GitcheU. In addition to
these, there was a lawyer named William G. Dryden, of whom
I shall presently speak, and one Kimball H. Dimmick, who
was largely devoted to criminal practice.
Scott, who had been a prominent lawyer in Missouri, stood
very high, both as to physique and reputation. In addition to
his great stature, he had a splendid constitution and wonderful
vitality and was identified with nearly every important case.
About March, 1850, he came here an overland emigrant, and
was made one of the two justices of the peace who formed,
with the county judge, on June 24th, the first Court of Sessions.
He then entered into partnership with Benjamin Hayes, con-
tinuing in joint practice with him until April, 1852, after which
he was a member successively of the law firms of Scott &
Granger, Scott & Lander, and Scott, Drown & Lander. Prac-
45
46 Sixty Years in Southern California [1853
ticing law in those days was not without its difficulties, partly
because of the lack of law-books; and Scott used to tell in his
own vehement style how, on one occasion, when he was de-
fending a French sea captain against charges preferred by a
rich Peruvian passenger, he was unable to make much headway
because there was but one volume (Kent's Commentaries)
in the whole pueblo that threw any light, so to speak, on the
question; which lack of information induced Alcalde Stearns
to decide against Scott's client. Although the Captain lost, he
nevertheless counted out to Scott, in shining gold-pieces, the
full sum of one thousand dollars as a fee. In 1859, a daughter
of Scott married Alfred Beck Chapman, a graduate of West
Point, who came to Los Angeles and Fort Tejon, as an officer,
about 1854. Chapman later studied law with Scott, and for
twenty years practiced with Andrew Glassell. In 1863, Chap-
man succeeded M. J. Newmark as City Attorney; and in 1868,
he was elected District Attorney. If I recollect rightly, Scott
died in the sixties, survived by Mrs. Scott — a sister of both
Mrs. J. S. Mallard and Mrs. J. G. Nichols — and a son, J. R.
Scott, admitted in 1880 to practice in the Supreme Court.
Hayes was District Judge when I came, and continued as
such for ten or twelve years. His jurisdiction embraced Los
Angeles, San Diego, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara
counties ; and the latter section then included Ventura County.
The Judge had regtdar terms in these districts and was com-
pelled to hold court at all of the County seats. A native of
Baltimore, Hayes came to Los Angeles on February 3d, 1850
— followed on St. Valentine's Day, 1852, by his wife whose
journey from St. Louis, via New Orleans, Havana and Panamd,
consumed forty-three days on the steamers. He was at once
elected the first County Attorney, and tried the famous case
against the Irving party. About the same time Hayes formed
his partnership with Scott. In January, 1855, and while
District Judge, Hayes sentenced the murderer Brown; and in
1858 he presided at Pancho Daniel's trial. Hayes continued
to practice for many years, and was known as a jurist of high
standing, though on account of his love for strong drink, court
i8s3]i Lawyers and Courts 47
on more than one occasion had to be adjourned. During his
residence here, he was known as an assiduous collector of his-
torical data. He was a brother of both Miss Louisa Hayes,
the first woman public-school teacher in Los Angeles, later the
wife of Dr. J. S. Griffin, and Miss Helena Hayes, who married
Benjamin S. Eaton. Judge Hayes died on August 4th, 1877.
Brent, a native of the South, was also a man of attainment,
arriving here in 1850 with a fairly representative, though in-
adequate library, and becoming in 1855 and 1856 a member of
the State Assembly. He had such wonderful influence, as one
of the Democratic leaders, that he could nominate at will any
candidate; and being especially popular with the Mexican
element, could also tell a good story or two about fees. When
trouble arose in 1851 between several members of the Lugo
family and the Indians, resulting finally in an attempted assas-
sination and the narrow escape from death of Judge Hayes
(who was associated with the prosecution of the case) , several
of the Lugos were tried for murder; and Brent, whose defense
led to their acquittal, received something like twenty thousand
dollars for his services. He was of a studious turn of mind
and acquired most of Hugo Reid's Indian library. When the
Civil War broke out. Brent went South again and became a
Confederate brigadier-general. Brent Street bears his name.
Norton, a Vermonter, who had first practiced law in New
York, then migrated west, and had later been a prime mover
for, and a member of, the first California Constitutional Conven-
tion, and who was afterward Superior Court Judge at San Fran-
cisco, was an excellent lawyer, when sober, and a good fellow.
He came to the Coast in the summer of 1848, was made First
Lieutenant and Chief-of-Staff of the California Volunteers, and
drifted in 1852 from Monterey to Los Angeles. He joined
Bean's Volunteers, and in 1857 delivered here a flowery Fourth
of July oration. Norton was the second County Judge, suc-
ceeding Agustin Olvera and living with the latter's family at the
Plaza; and it was from Norton's Coiu-t of Sessions, in May,
1855, that the dark-skinned Juan Flores was sent to the State
prison, although few persons suspected him to be guilty of such
48 Sixty Years in Southern California [issa
criminal tendencies as he later developed. Norton died in Los
Angeles in 1887; and Norton Avenue recalls his life and work.
Judge Hayes' successor, Don Pablo de la Guerra, was born
in the presidio of Santa Barbara in 1819, a member of one of the
most popular families of that locality. Although a Spaniard
of the Spaniards, he had been educated in an Eastern college,
and spoke English fluently. Four times he was elected State
Senator from Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo, and was
besides a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1849.
Late in 1863, he was a candidate for District Judge when
a singular opposition developed that might easily have led,
in later years at least, to his defeat. A large part of the
population of Santa Barbara was related to him by blood or
marriage; and it was argued that, if elected, De la Guerra in
many cases would be disqualified from sitting as judge. On
January ist, 1864, however, Don Pablo took up the work as Dis-
trict Judge where Hayes surrendered it. Just as De la Guerra
in 1854 t^3-d resigned in favor of Hunter, before completing his
term as United States Marshal, so now toward the end of 1873,
De la Guerra withdrew on account of ill-health from the dis-
trict judgeship, and on February 5th, 1874, he died.
Drown was a lawyer who came here a few months before I
did, having just passed through one of those trying ordeals
which might easily prove sufficient to destroy the courage and
ambition of any man. He hailed from Iowa, where he had
served as Brigadier-General of Militia, and was bound up the
Coast from the Isthmus on the steamer Independence when it
took fire, off Lower California, and burned to the water's edge.
General Drown, being a good swimmer and a plucky fellow,
set his wife adrift on a hencoop and then put off for shore with
his two children on his back. Having deposited them safely on
the beach, he swam back to get his wife; but a brutal fellow-
passenger pushed the fainting woman off when her agonized
husband was within a few feet of her; she sank beneath the
waves, and he saw his companion go to her doom at the moment
she was about to be rescued. Though broken in spirit. Drown
on landing at San Pedro came to Los Angeles with his two
i853] Lawyers and Courts 49
boys, and put his best foot forward. He established himself
as a lawyer and in 1858 became District Attorney, succeeding
Cameron E. Thom; and it was during his term that Pancho
Daniel was lynched. In 1855, too, Drown instituted the first
Los Angeles lodge of Odd Fellows. Drown was an able lawyer,
eloquent and humorous, and fairly popular; but his generosity
affected his material prosperity, and he died, at San Juan
Capistrano, on August 17th, 1863, none too blessed with this
world's goods.
Dimmick, who at one time occupied an office in the old
Temple Block on Main Street, had rather an eventful career.
Born in Connecticut, he learned the printer's trade; then
he studied law and was soon admitted to practice in New York ;
and in 1846 he sailed with Colonel J. D. Stevenson, in command
of Company K, landing, six months later, at the picturesquely-
named Yerba Buena, on whose slopes the bustling town of San
Francisco was so soon to be founded. When peace with Mexico
was established, Dimmick moved to San Jose; after which
with Foster he went to the convention whose mission was to
frame a State constitution, and was later chosen Judge of the
Supreme Court. In 1852, after having revisited the East and
been defrauded of practically all he possessed by those to
whom he had entrusted his California affairs, Dimmick came
to Los Angeles and served as Justice of the Peace, Notary
Public and County Judge. He was also elected District
Attorney, and at another time was appointed by the Court to
defend the outlaw, Pancho Daniel. Dimmick's practice was
really largely criminal, which frequently made him a defender
of horse-thieves, gamblers and desperadoes ; and in such cases
one could always anticipate his stereotyped plea:
Gentlemen of the Jury : The District Attorney prosecuting my
client is paid by the County to convict this prisoner, whether he
be guilty or innocent; and I plead with you, gentlemen, in the
name of Impartial Justice, to bring in a verdict of "Not guilty ! "
Through the help of his old-time friend. Secretary William
H. Seward, Dimmick toward the end of his life was appointed
50 Sixty Years in Southern California [i8s3
Attorney for the Southern District of the United States in
California; but on September nth, 1861, he suddenly died of
heart disease.
Eaton, another prominent representative of the Bar, came
from New England as early as 1850, while California govern-
ment was in its infancy and life anything but secure ; and he
had not been here more than a few months when the maneu-
vers of Antonio Garra, Agua Caliente's chief, threatened an
insurrection extending from Tulare to San Diego and made
necessary the organization, under General J. H. Bean, of
volunteers to allay the terror-stricken community's fears.
Happily, the company's chief activity was the quieting of
feminine nerves. On October 3d, 1853, Eaton was elected
District Attorney and in 1857, County Assessor. Later, after
living for a while at San Gabriel, Eaton became a founder of the
Pasadena colony, acting as its President for several years; and
in 1876 he was one of the committee to arrange for the local
Centennial celebration. Frederick Eaton, several times City
Engineer and once — in 1899-1900 — Mayor of Los Angeles, is
a son of Benjamin Eaton and his first wife, Helena Hayes, who
died a few years after she came here, and the brother of Mrs.
Hancock Johnston. He reflects no little credit on his father by
reason of a very early, effective advocacy of the Owens River
Aqueduct. Under his administration, the City began this
colossal undertaking, which was brought to a happy consumma-
tion in the year 1913 through the engineering skill of William
MulhoUand, Eaton's friend. In 1861, Judge Eaton married
Miss Alice Taylor Clark, of Providence, R. I., who is still living.
While I am upon this subject of lawyers and officialdom, a
few words regarding early jurists and court decorum may be in
order. In 1853, Judge Dryden, who had arrived in 1850, was
but a Police Justice, not yet having succeeded Dimmick as
County Judge; and at no time was his knowledge of the law
and things pertaining thereto other than extremely limited.
His audacity, however, frequently sustained him in positions
that otherwise might have been embarrassing; and this auda-
city was especially apparent in Dryden's strong opposition to
Henry Melius
From a Daguerreotype
Francis Melius
From a Daguerreotype
f
John G. Downey
Charles L. Ducommun
u
Id
s
H
1853] Lawyers and Courts 51
the criminal element. He talked with the volubility of a Gatling
gun, expressing himself in a quick, nervous manner and was,
besides, very profane. One day he was trying a case, when
Captain Cameron E. Thom (who had first come to Los Angeles
in 1854, ^s the representative of the National Government,
to take testimony before Commissioner Burrill) was one of
the attorneys. During the progress of the case, Thom had
occasion to read a lengthy passage from some statute book.
Interrupting him, the Judge asked to see the weighty volume;
when, having searched in vain for the citation, he said in
his characteristic, jerky way:
"I'll be damned, Mr. Thom, if I can find that law!"
All of which recalls to me a report, once printed in the Los
Angeles Star, concerning this same jurist and an inquest
held by him over a dead Indian:
Justice Dryden and the Jury sat on the body. The verdict
was: " Death from intoxication, or by the visitation of God!"
Dryden, who was possessed of a genial personality, was
long remembered with pleasure for participation in Fourth of
July celebrations and processions. He was married, I believe,
in 1 85 1, only one year after he arrived here, to Senorita Dolores
Nieto; and she having died, he took as his second wife, in
September, 1868, another Spanish lady, Senorita Anita Domin-
guez, daughter of Don Manuel Dominguez. Less than a year
afterward, on September loth, 1869, Judge Dryden himself
died at the age of seventy years.
Thom, by the way, came from Virginia in 1849 and ad-
vanced rapidly in his profession. It was far from his expecta-
tion to remain in Los Angeles longer than was necessary; and
he has frequently repeated to me the story of his immediate
infatuation with this beautiful section and its cheering climate,
and how he fell in love with the quaint little pueblo at first
sight. Soon after he decided to remain here, he was assigned
as associate counsel to defend Pancho Daniel, after the retire-
ment of Columbus Sims. In 1856, Thom was appointed both
52 Sixty Years in Southern California [1853
City and District Attorney, and occupied the two positions at
the same time — an odd situation which actually brought it
about, during his tenure of offices, that a land dispute between
the City and the County obliged Thom to defend both inter-
ests! In 1863, he was a partner with A. B. Chapman; and
twenty years later, having previously served as State Senator,
he was elected Mayor of the city. Captain Thom married two
sisters — first choosing Miss Susan Henrietta Hathwell, and
then, sometime after her death, leading to the altar Miss Belle
Cameron Hathwell whom he had named and for whom, when
she was baptized, he had stood godfather. A man ultimately
affluent, he owned, among other properties, a large ranch at
Glendale. '
Another good story concerning Judge Dryden comes to
mind, recalling a certain Sheriff. As the yarn goes, the latter
presented himself as a candidate for the office of Sheriff ; and
in order to capture the vote of the native element, he also
offered to marry the daughter of an infiuential Mexican. A
bargain was concluded and, as the result, he forthwith
assumed the responsibilities and dangers of both shrieval and
matrimonial life.
Before the Sheriff had possessed this double dignity very
long, however, a gang of horse-thieves began depredations
around Los Angeles. A posse was immediately organized to
pursue the desperadoes, and after a short chase they located
the band and brought them into Los Angeles. Imagine the
Sheriff's dismay, when he found that the leader was none other
than his own brother-in-law whom he had never before seen !
To make the story short, the case was tried and the prisoner
was found guilty; but owing to influence (to which most
juries in those days were very susceptible) there was an ap-
peal for judicial leniency. Judge Dryden, therefore, in an-
nouncing the verdict, said to the Sheriff's brother-in-law,
"The jury finds you guilty as charged," and then proceeded
to read the prisoner a long and severe lecture, to which he
added: " But the jury recommends clemency. Accordingly, I
' Thom died on February 2d, 1915.
i853] Lawyers and Courts 53
declare you a free man, and you may go about your business."
Thereupon someone in the room asked : "What is his business? "
To which the Judge, never flinching, shouted: "Horse-stealing,
sir! horsestealing! "
Lander was here in 1853, having come from the East the
year previous. He was a Harvard College graduate — there
were not many on the Coast in those days — and was known as a
good office-practitioner; he was for some time, in fact, the Bar's
choice for Court Commissioner. I think that, for qmte a while,
he was the only examiner of real estate titles ; he was certainly
the only one I knew. On October 15th, 1852, Lander had mar-
ried Sehorita Margarita, a daughter of Don Santiago Johnson,
who was said to have been one of the best known business men
prior to 1846. Afterward Lander lived in a cottage on the
northeast corner of Fourth and Spring streets. This cottage
he sold to I. W. Hellman in the early seventies, for four
thousand dollars; and Hellman, in tiu-n, sold it at cost to his
brother. On that lot, worth to-day probably a million dollars,
the H. W. Hellman Building now stands. Lander died on
June loth, 1873.
Granger was still another lawyer who was here when I
arrived, he having come with his family — one of the first
American households to be permanently established here — in
1850. By 1852, he had formed a partnership with Jonathan
R. Scott, and in that year attained popularity through his
Fourth of July oration. Granger was, in fact, a fluent and
attractive speaker, which accounted, perhaps, for his election
as City Attorney in 1855, after he had served the city as a
member of the Common Council in 1854. If I recollect aright,
he was a candidate for the district judgeship in the seventies,
but was defeated.
Ogier, a lawyer from Charleston, S. C, came to California
in 1849, and to Los Angeles in 1851, forming a partnership on
May 31st of that year with Don Manuel Clemente Rojo, a
clever, genial native of Peru. On September 29th, Ogier
succeeded William C. Ferrell, the first District Attorney; in
1853, he joined the voluntary police; and later served, for
54 Sixty Years in Southern California [1853
some years, as United States District Judge. He died at
Holcombe Valley in May, 1861. Ogier Street, formerly Ogier
Lane, was named for him. Rojo, after dividing his time
between the law and the Spanish editorial work on the Star,
wandered off to Lower California and there became a "sub-
political chief."
Kewen, a native of Mississippi and a veteran of the Mexican
War, came to Los Angeles in 1858 with the title of Colonel,
after fiasco followed his efforts, in the Southern States, to
raise relief for the filibuster Walker, on whose expedition A. L.
Kewen, a brother, had been killed in the battle at Rivas,
Nicaragua, in June, 1855. Once a practitioner at law in St.
Louis, Kewen was elected California's first Attorney-General,
and even prior to the delivery of his oration before the Society
of Pioneers at San Francisco, in 1854, ^^ "^^^ distinguished
for his eloquence. In 1858, he was Superintendent of Los
Angeles City Schools. In the sixties, Kewen and Norton
formed a partnership. Settling on an undulating tract of some
four hundred and fifty acres near San Gabriel, including the ruins
of the old Mission mill and now embracing the grounds of the
Huntington Hotel, Kewen repaired the house and converted it
into a cosy and even luxurious residence, calling the estate
ornamented with gardens and fountains. El Molino- — a title
perpetuated in the name of the present suburb. Kewen was
also a member of the State Assembly and, later. District
Attorney. He died in November, 1879.
Gitchell, United States District Attorney in the late fifties,
practiced here for many years. He was a jolly old bachelor
and was popular, although he did not attain eminence.
Isaac Hartman, an attorney, and his wife, who were among
the particularly agreeable people here in 1853, soon left for the
East.
Volney E. Howard came with his family in the late fifties.
He left San Francisco, where he had been practicing law, rather
suddenly, and at a time when social conditions in the city
were demoralized, and the citizens, as in the case of the
people of Los Angeles, were obliged to organize a vigilance
1853] Lawyers and Courts 55
committee. William T. Coleman, one of the foremost citizens
of his city, led the Northern movement, and M. J. Newmark,
then a resident of San Francisco, was among those who partici-
pated. Howard, who succeeded William T., afterward General
Sherman in leading the Law and Order contingent, opposed the
idea of mob rule ; but the people of San Francisco, fully alive to
the necessity of wiping out the vicious elements, and knowing
how hard it was to get a speedy trial and an honest jury, had
little sympathy with his views. He was accordingly ordered
out of town, and made his way, first to Sacramento, then to the
South. Here, with Kewen as their neighbor, Howard and his
talented wife, a lady of decidedly blue-stocking tendencies, took
up their residence near the San Gabriel Mission ; and he became
one of the most reliable attorneys in Los Angeles, serving once
or twice as County Judge and on the Supreme Court bench, as
well as in the State Constitutional Convention of 1878-1879.
Speaking of the informality of courts in the earlier days, I
should record that jurymen and others would come in coatless
and, especially in warm weather, without vests and collars; and
that it was the fashion for each juryman to provide himself
with a jack-knife and a piece of wood, in order that he might
whittle the time away. This was a recognized privilege, and
I am not exaggerating when I say that if he forgot his piece of
wood, it was considered his further prerogative to whittle the
chair on which he sat! In other respects, also, court solemnity
was lacking. Judge and attorneys wotild frequently lock horns ;
and sometimes their disputes ended violently. On one occa-
sion, for example, while I was in court, Columbus Sims, an
attorney who came here in 1852, threw an inkstand at his oppo-
nent, during an altercation ; but this contempt of court did not
call forth his disbarment, for he was later foimd acting as at-
torney for Pancho Daniel, one of Sheriff Barton's murderers,
until sickness compelled his retirement from the case. As to
panel-service, I recollect that whUe serving as juror in those
early days, we were once locked up for the night; and in order
that time might not hang too heavily on our hands, we
engaged in a sociable little game of poker. Sims is dead.
56 Sixty Years in Southern California USss
More than inkstands were sometimes hurled in the early
courts. On one occasion, for instance, after the angry dis-
putants had arrived at a state of agitation which made the
further use of canes, chairs, and similar objects tame and un-
interesting, revolvers were drawn, notwithstanding the mar-
shal's repeated attempts to restore order. Judge Dryden, in
the midst of the melee, hid behind the platform upon which his
Judgeship's bench rested; and being well out of the range of the
threatening irons, yelled at the rioters :
"Shoot away, damn you! and to hell with all of you!"
After making due allowance for primitive conditions, it
must be admitted that many and needless were the evils
incidental to court administration. There was, for instance,
the law's delay, which necessitated additional fees to witnesses
and jurors and thus materially added to the expenses of the
County. Juries were always a mixture of incoming pioneers and
natives; the settlers understood very little Spanish, and the
native Calif ornians knew still less English; while few or none
of the attorneys could speak Spanish at all. In translating tes-
timony, if the interpreter happened to be a friend of the
criminal (which he generally was) , he would present the evi-
dence in a favorable light, and much time was wasted in sift-
ing biased translations. Of course, there were interpreters who
doubtless endeavored to perform their duties conscientiously.
George Thompson Burrill, the first Sheriff, received fifty dollars
a month as court interpreter, and Manuel Clemente Rojo
translated testimony as well; cfificials I believe to have been
honest and conscientious.
While alluding to court interpreters and the general use
of Spanish during at least the first decade after I came to
California, I am reminded of the case of Joaquin Carrillo, who
was elected District Judge, in the early fifties, to succeed
Judge Henry A. Tefft of Santa Barbara, who had been drowned
near San Luis Obispo while attempting to land from a steamer
in order to hold court. During the foiu-teen years when Car-
rillo held office, he was constantly handicapped by his little
knowledge of the English language and the consequent neces-
i8s3] Lawyers and Courts 57
sity of carrying on all court proceedings in Spanish, to say
nothing of the fact that he was really not a lawyer. Yet I
am told that Carrillo possessed common sense to such a
degree that his decisions were seldom set aside by the higher
courts.
Sheriff Burrill had a brother, S. Thompson Birrrill, who
was a lawyer and a Justice of the Peace. He. held court in the
Padilla Building on Main Street, opposite the present site of
the BuUard Block and adjoining my brother's store; and as
a result of this proximity we became friendly. He was one
of the best-dressed men in town, although, when I first met him,
he could not have been less than sixty years of age. He pre-
sented me with my first dog, which I lost on account of stray
poison: evil-disposed or thoughtless persons, with no respect
for the_ owner, whether a neighbor or not, and without the
slightest consideration for pedigree, were in the habit of throw-
ing poison on the streets to kill off canines, of which there was
certainly a superabundance.
Ygnacio Sepulveda, the jurist and a son of Jose Andres
Sepulveda, was living here when I arrived, though but a boy.
Born in Los Angeles in 1842, he was educated in the East
and in 1863 admitted to the Bar; he served in the State Legis-
lature of the following winter, was County Judge from 1870 to
1873, and District Judge in 1874. Five years later he was
elected Superior Judge, but resigned his position in 1884 to
become Wells Fargo & Company's representative in the City
of Mexico, at which capital for two years he was also American
Charge d' Affaires. There to my great pleasure I met him,
bearing his honors modestly, in January, 1885, during my tour
of the southern republic. ' Sepulveda Avenue is named for the
family.
Horace Bell was a nephew of Captain Alexander Bell, of
Bell's Row; and as an early comer to Los Angeles, he joined the
volunteer mounted police. Although for years an attorney and
journalist, in which capacity he edited the Porcupine, he is
» After an absence of thirty years, Judge Sepdlveda returned to Los Angeles,
in 1914, and was heartily welcomed back by his many friends and admirers.
58 Sixty Years in Southern California [1853
best known for his Reminiscences of a Ranger, a volume writ-
ten in rather a breezy and entertaining style, but certainly
containing exaggerations.
This reference to the Rangers reminds me that I was not
long in Los Angeles when I heard of the adventures of Joaquin
Murieta, who had been killed but a few months before I
came. According to the stories current, Murieta, a nephew of
Jose Maria Valdez, was a decent-enough sort of fellow, who
had been subjected to more or less injustice from certain
American settlers, and who was finally bound to a tree and
horsewhipped, after seeing his brother hung, on a trumped-up
charge. In revenge, Murieta had organized a company of
bandits, and for two or three years had terrorized a good part
of the entire State. Finally, in August, 1853, while the outlaw
and several of his companions were off their guard near the
Tejon Paso, they were encountered by Captain Harry Love
and his volunteer mounted police organized to get him,
"dead or alive;" the latter killed Murieta and another des-
perado known as Three-fingered Jack. Immediately the out-
laws were despatched, their heads and the deformed hand of
Three-fingered Jack were removed from the bodies and sent by
John Sylvester and Harry Bloodsworth to Dr. William Francis
Edgar, then a surgeon at Fort Miller; but a flood interfering,
Sylvester swam the river with his barley sack and its grue-
some contents. Edgar put the trophies into whiskey and ar-
senic, when they were transmitted to the civil authorities, as
vouchers for a reward. Bloodsworth died lately.
Daredevils of a less malicious type were also resident
among us. On the evening of December 31st, 1853, for example,
I was in oiir store at eight o'clock when Felipe Rheim — often
called Reihm and even Riehm — gloriously intoxicated and out
for a good time, appeared on the scene, flourishing the ubiqui-
tous weapon. His celebration of the New Year had apparently
commenced, and he was already six sheets in the wind. Like
many another man, Felipe, a very worthy German, was good-
natured when sober, but a terror when drunk; and as soon as he
spied my solitary figure, he pointed his gun at me, saying, at the
1853] Lawyers and Courts 59
same time, in his vigorous native tongue, "Treat, or I shoot!"
I treated. After this pleasing transaction amid the smoky
obscurity of Ramon Alexander's saloon, Felipe fired his gun
into the air and disappeared. Startling as a demand like
that might appear to-day, no thought of arrest then resulted
from such an incident.
The first New Year's Eve that I spent in Los Angeles was
ushered in with the indiscriminate discharging of pistols and
guns. This method of celebrating was, I may say, a novelty
to me, and no less a surprise ; for of course I was unaware of the
fact that, when the city was organized, three years before, a
proposition to prohibit the carrying of ftrearms of any sort, or
the shooting ofiE of the same, except in defense of self, home
or property, had been stricken from the first constitution by
the committee on police, who reported that such an ordinance
could not at that time be enforced. Promiscuous firing con-
tinued for years to be indulged in by early Angelenos, though
frequently condemned in the daily press, and such was its
effect upon even me that I soon found myself peppering away
at a convenient adobe wall on Commercial Street, seeking to
perfect my aim!
CHAPTER VI
MERCHANTS AND SHOPS
1853
TRIVIAL events in a man's life sometimes become indelibly-
impressed on his memory ; and one such experience of my
own is perhaps worth mentioning as another illustra-
tion of the rough character of the times. One Sunday, a few
days after my arrival, my brother called upon a tonsorial ce-
lebrity, Peter Biggs, of whom I shall speak later, leaving me in
charge of the store. There were two entrances, one on Main
Street, the other on Requena. I was standing at the Main
Street door, unconscious of impending excitement, when a
stranger rode up on horseback and, without the least hesitation
or warning, pointed a pistol at me. I was not sufficiently-
amused to delay my going, but promptly retreated to the other
door where the practical joker, astride his horse, had easily
anticipated my arrival and again greeted me with the muzzle
of his weapon. These maneuvers were executed a number of
times, and my ill-concealed trepidation only seemed to aug-
ment the diversion of a rapidly-increasing audience. My
brother returned in the midst of the fun and asked the jolly
joker what in hell he meant by such behavior; to which he
replied: "Oh, I just wanted to frighten the boy!"
Soon after this incident, my brother left for San Francisco;
and his partner, Jacob Rich, accompanied by his wife, came
south and rented rooms in what was then known as Mellus's
Row, an adobe building for the most part one-story, standing
60
[i853l Merchants and Shops 6i
alone with a garden in the rear, and occupying about three
hundred feet on the east side of Los Angeles Street, between
Aliso and First. In this row, said by some to have been built
by Barton & Nordholt, in 1850, for Captain Alexander Bell,
a merchant here since 1842, after whom Bell Street is named,
and by others claimed to have been the headquarters of Fre-
mont, in 1846, there was a second-story at the corner of Aliso,
provided with a large veranda; and there the Bell and Melius
families lived. Francis Melius, who arrived in California in
1839, had married the niece of Mrs. Bell, and Bell having
sold the building to Melius, Bell's Row became known as
Mellus's Row. Finally, Bell repurchased the property, retain-
ing it during the remainder of his life ; and the name was again
changed. This famous stretch of adobe, familiarly known as
The Row, housed many early shopkeepers, such as Ferner &
Kraushaar, general merchants, Kalisher & Wartenberg, and
Bachman & Bauman. The coming to Los Angeles of Mr.
and Mrs. Rich enabled me to abandon La Rue's restaurant, as
I was permitted to board with them. None the less, I missed
my brother very much.
Everything at that time indicating that I was in for a com-
mercial career, it was natural that I should become acquainted
with the merchants then in Los Angeles. Some of the trades-
men, I dare say, I have forgotten; but a more or less distinct
recollection remains of many, and to a few of them I shall
allude.
Temple Street had not then been opened by Beaudry and
Potts, although there was a little cul-de-sac extending west from
Spring Street; and at the junction of what is now Spring and
Temple streets, there was a two-story adobe building in which
D. W. Alexander and Francis Melius conducted a general
merchandise business, and at one time acted as agents for
Melius & Howard of San Francisco. Melius, who was born in
Salem, Massachusetts, February 3d, 1824, came to the Coast in
1839, first landing at Santa Barbara; and when I first met him
he had married Adelaida, daughter of Don Santiago Johnson,
and our fellow-townsman, James J. Melius — familiarly known
62 Sixty Years in Southern California Usss
as plain Jim — was a baby. Alexander & Melius had rather
an extensive business in the early days, bringing goods by sailing
vessel around Cape Horn, and exchanging them for hides and
tallow which were carried back East by the rettuning merchant-
men. They had operated more or less extensively even some
years before California was ceded to the United States; but
competition from a new source forced these well-established
merchants to retire. With the advent of more frequent,
although still irregular service between San Francisco and the
South, and the influx of more white people, a number of new
stores started here bringing merchandise from the Northern
market, while San Francisco buyers began to outbid Alexan-
der & Melius for the local supply of hides and tallow. This
so revolutionized the methods under which this tradition-bound
old concern operated that, by 1858, it had succumbed to the
inevitable, and the business passed into the hands of Johnson
& Allanson, a firm made up of Charles R. Johnson, soon to be
elected County Clerk, and Horace S. Allanson.
Most of the commercial activity in this period was carried
on north of First Street. The native population inhabited
Sonora Town, for the most part a collection of adobes, named
after the Mexican state whence came many of our people;
there was a contingent from other parts of Mexico ; and a small
sprinkling of South Americans from Chile and Peru. Among
this Spanish-speaking people quite a business was done by
Latin-American storekeepers. It followed, naturally enough,
that they dealt in all kinds of Mexican goods.
One of the very few white men in this district was Jose
Mascarel (a powerfully-built French sea-captain and master
of the ship that brought Don Luis Vignes to the Southland) ,
who settled in Los Angeles in 1844, marrying an Indian woman.
He had come with Prudhomme and others ; and under Captain
Henseley had taken part in the military events at San Bartolo
and the Mesa. By 1865, when he was Mayor of the city, he had
already accumiilated a number of important real estate holdings
and owned, with another Frenchman, Juan Barri, a baker, the
block extending east on the south side of Commercial Street,
1853] Merchants and Shops 63
from Main to Los Angeles, which had been built in 1861 to take
the place of several old adobes. This the owners later di-
vided, Mascarel taking the southeast corner of Commercial
and Main streets, and Barri the southwest corner of Commer-
cial and Los Angeles streets. In the seventies, I. W. Hellman
bought the Mascarel corner, and in 1883, the Farmers &
Merchants Bank moved to that location, where it remained
until the institution purchased the southwest corner of Fourth
and Main streets, for the erection of its own building.
Andres Ramirez was another Sonora Town merchant.
He had come from Mexico in 1844, ^.nd sold general merchan-
dise in what, for a while, was dubbed the Street of the Maids.
Later, this was better known as Upper Main Street; and still
later it was called San Fernando Street.
Louis Abarca was a tradesman and a neighbor of Ramirez.
Prosperous until the advent of the pioneer, he little by little
became poorer, and finally withdrew from business.
Juan Bernard, a native of French Switzerland, whose daugh-
ter married D. Botiller, now an important landowner, came to
California by way of the Horn, in search of the precious metal,
preceding me to this land of sunshine. For awhile, he had a
brickyard on Buena Vista Street ; but in the late seventies, soon
after marrying Senorita Susana Machado, daughter of Don
Agustin Machado, he bought a vineyard on Alameda Street,
picturesquely enclosed by a high adobe or brick wall much
after the fashion of a European chdteau. He also came to own
the site of the Natick House. A clever linguist and a man
of attractive personality, he passed away in 1889.
An American by the name of George Walters lived on
Upper Main Street, among the denizens of which locality he
was an influential person. Born at New Orleans as early as
1809, Walters had trapped and traded in the Rocky Mountains,
then teamed for awhile between Santa Fe and neighboring
points. Near the end of 1844, he left New Mexico in com-
pany with James Waters, Jim Beckwith and other travelers,
finally reaching Los Angeles. Walters, who settled in San
Bernardino, was at the Chino Ranch, with B. D. WUson
64 Sixty Years in Southern California U^si
and Louis Robidoux, when so many Americans were made
prisoners.
Julian Chavez, after whom Chavez Street is named, was here
in 1853. If he was not native-born, he came here at a very
early day. He owned a stretch of many acres, about a mile
northeast of Los Angeles. He was a good, honest citizen, and
is worthy of recollection.
Ramon Alexander, a Frenchman often confused with David
Alexander, came to Los Angeles before 1850, while it was still a
mere Mexican village. Pioneers remember him especially as
the builder of the long-famous Round House, on Main Street,
and as one who also for some time kept a saloon near Requena
Street. Alexander's wife was a Sehorita Valdez. He died
in 1870.
Antoine Laborie was another Frenchman here before the
beginning of the fifties. He continued to live in Los Angeles till
at least the late seventies. A fellow-countryman, B. Dubordieu,
had a bakery in Sonora Town.
Philip Rheim, the good-natured German to whom I have
referred, had a little store and saloon, before I came, called
Los dos Amigos, as the proprietor of which he was known as
Don Felipe. Nor was this title amiss; for Felipe married a
native woman and, German though he had been, he gradually
became, like so many others who had mated in the same way,
more and more Calif ornian in manners and customs.
A month after I arrived here, John Behn, who had a grocery
business at the northeast corner of First and Los Angeles
streets, retired. He had come to Los Angeles from Baden in
1848, and, after forming one or two partnerships, had sold out to
Lorenzo Leek, a German Dane, who reached here in November,
1849, and whose son, Henry von der Leek, married a daughter
of Tom Mott and is living at San Juan Capistrano. Leek
opened his own store in 1854, and despite the trials to which
he was to be subjected, he was able, in 1868, to pay John
Schumacher three thousand dollars for a lot on Main Street.
Leek had a liking for the spectaciilar ; and in the November
previous to my arrival was active, as I have been told, with
i8s3] Merchants and Shops 65
GoUer and Nordholt, in organizing the first political procession
seen in Los Angeles. The election of Pierce was the incentive,
and there were gorgeous transparencies provided for the event.
It was on this occasion that a popular local character, George
the Baker, burned himself badly while trying to fire off the
diminutive cannon borrowed from the Spanish padre for the
event.
In the one-story adobe of Mascarel and Barri, on the comer
of Commercial and Main streets, now the site of the United
States National Bank, an Irishman named Samuel G. Arbuckle,
who had come here in 1 850 and was associated for a short time
with S. Lazard, conducted a dry goods store. From 1852 to
1856, Arbuckle was City Treasurer.
In the same building, and adjoining Arbuckle's, John
Jones, father of Mrs. J. B. Lankershim and M. G. Jones,
carried on a wholesale grocery business. Jones had left England
for Australia, when forty-seven years old, and a year later
touched the coast of California at Monterey and came to Los
Angeles. Twice a year, Jones went north in a schooner, for
the purpose of replenishing his stock; and after making his
purchases and having the boat loaded, he would return to Los
Angeles. Sometimes he traveled with the round-bellied, short
and jolly Captain Morton who recalled his illustrious prototype,
Wouter van Twiller, so humorously described by Washington
Irving as "exactly five feet six inches in height, and six feet
five inches in circumference;" sometimes he sailed with Captain
J. S. Garcia, a good-natured seaman. During his absence, the
store remained closed ; and as this trip always required at least
six weeks, some idea may be obtained of the Sleepy Hollow
methods then prevailing in this part of the West. In 1854
or 1855, Jones, who was reputed to be worth some fifty
thousand dollars, went to San Francisco and married Miss
Doria Deighton, and it was generally understood that he
expected to settle there ; but having been away for a couple of
years, he retiirned to the City of the Angels, this being one of
the first instances within my observation of the irresistible
attraction of Los Angeles for those who have once lived here.
5
66 Sixty Years in Southern California [1853
It is my recollection that Jones bought from John G. Downey
the Cristobal Aguilar home then occupied by W. H. and Mrs,
Perry ; a building the more interesting since it was understood
to have served, long in the past and before the American
occupation, as a calabozo or jail, and to have had a whipping-
post supposed to have done much service in keeping the
turbulently-inclined natives quiet. How many of the old
adobes may at times have been used as jails, I am unable to
say, but it is also related that there stood on the hill west of
the Plaza another cuartel, afterward the home of B. S. Eaton,
where Fred, later Mayor of Los Angeles, was bom. Like
Felix Bachman and others, Jones entered actively into trade
with Salt Lake City ; and although he met with many reverses
■ — notably in the loss of Captain Morton's Laura Bevan, which
sank, carrying down a shipload of uninsiured goods — he retired
well-to-do.
John, sometimes called Juan Temple — or Jonathan, as he
used to sign himself in earlier years — who paid the debt of
Nature in 1866, and after whom Temple Street is named, was
another merchant, having a store upon the piece of land (later
the site of the Downey Block, and now occupied by the Post
Office) which, from 1849 to 1866, was in charge of my friend,
Don Ygnacio Garcia, his confidential business agent. Garcia
imported from Mexico both serapes and rebozos; and as every
Mexican man and woman required one of these garments,
Temple had a large and very lucrative trade in them alone.
Following the death of Temple, Garcia continued under
Hinchman, the executor of the estate, until everything had been
settled.
It was really far back in 1827 when Temple came to Los
Angeles, started the first general merchandise store in town,
and soon took such a lead in local affairs that the first Vigi-
lance Committee in the city was organized in his store, in 1836.
Toward the fifties, he drifted south to Mexico and there
acquired a vast stretch of land on the coast ; but he returned
here, and was soon known as one of the wealthiest, yet one of
the stingiest men in all California. His real estate holdings
1853] Merchants and Shops 67
in or near Los Angeles were enormous ; but the bad judgment
of his executor cost him dear, and valuable properties were
sacrificed. After his death, Temple's wife — who once ac-
companied her husband to Paris, and had thus formed a
liking for the livelier French capital — returned to France with
her daughter, later Dona Ajuria, to live; and A. F. Hinch-
man. Temple's brother-in-law, who had been Superintendent of
Santa Barbara County Schools, was appointed administrator.
Hinchman then resided in San Diego, and was intensely partial
to that place. This may have prejudiced him against Los
Angeles ; but whatever the cause, he offered Temple's properties
at ridiculous prices, and some of the items of sale may now be
interesting.
The present site of the Government Btiilding, embracing
as it then did the forty-foot street north of it, was at that time
improved with an adobe building covering the entire front and
running back to New High Street ; and this adobe, known after
Temple's death as the Old Temple Block, Hinchman sold for
fifteen thousand dollars. He also disposed of the new Temple
Block, including the improvement at the south end which I
shall describe, for but sixteen thousand dollars. I remember
quite well that Ygnacio Garcia was the purchaser, and that,
tiring of his bargain in a couple of weeks, he resold the prop-
erty to John Temple's brother, Francisco, at cost.
Hinchman, for fourteen thousand dollars, also disposed of
the site of the present Bullard Block, whereon Temple had
erected a large brick building, the lower part of which was
used as a market while the upper part was a theater. The
terms in each of these three transactions were a thousand
dollars per annum, with interest at ten per cent. He sold
to the Bixbys the Cerritos rancho, containing twenty-six
thousand acres, for twenty thousand dollars. Besides these,
there were eighteen lots, each one hundred and twenty by three
hundred and thirty feet, located on Fort Street (now Broad-
way) , some of which ran through to Spring and others to Hill,
which were bought by J. F. Burns and William Buffum for
one thousand and fifty dollars, or fifty dollars each for the
68 Sixty Years in Southern California [1853
twelve inside and seventy-five dollars each for the six corner
lots.
Returning to the Fort Street lots, it may be interesting to
know that the property would be worth to-day — at an average
price of four thousand doUars per foot — about nine million
dollars. Eugene Meyer pvirchased one of the lots (on the
west side of Fort Street, running through to Hill, one hundred
and twenty by three hundred and thirty feet in size), for the
sum of one thousand dollars ; and I paid him a thousand dollars
for sixty feet and the same depth. In 1874 I built on this site
the home occupied by me for about twelve years, after which I
improved both fronts for F. L. Blanchard. These two blocks
are still in my possession ; the Broadway building is known as
Blanchard Hall. Blanchard, by the way, a comer of 1886,
started his Los Angeles career in A. G. Bartlett's music store,
and has since always been closely identified with art move-
ments. He organized the system of cluster street-lights in
use here and was an early promoter of good roads.
Charles L. Ducommun was here in business in 1853, he and
John G. Downey having arrived together, three years before.
According to the story still current, Ducommun, with his
kit and stock as a watchmaker, and Downey, with his outfit
as a druggist, hired a car r eta together, to transport their belong-
ings from San Pedro to Los Angeles ; but the carreta broke down,
and the two pilgrims to the City of the Angels had to finish
their journey afoot. Ducommun's first store, located on
Commercial Street between Main and Los Angeles, was about
sixteen by thirty feet in size, but it contained an astonishing
assortment of merchandise, such as hardware, stationery and
jewelry. Perhaps the fact that Ducommun came from Switzer-
land, then even more than now the chief home of watchmaking,
explains his early venture in the making and selling of watches ;
however that may be, it was to Charlie Ducommun's that the
bankrupt merchant Moreno — later sentenced to fourteen
or fifteen years in the penitentiary for robbing a French-
man— came to sell the Frenchman's gold watch. Moreno
confessed that he had organized a gang of robbers, after his
Plo Pico
From an oil portrait
Juan Bandini
Abel Steams
Isaac Williams
JiSStS;,:
Store of Felipe Rheim
1853] Merchants and Shops 69
failure in business, and had murdered even his own lieuten-
ants. Ducommun, pretending to go into a rear room for the
money, slipped out of the back door and gave the alarm. Du-
commun's store was a sort of curiosity-shop containing many
articles not obtainable elsewhere; and he was clever enough,
when asked for any rarity, to charge all that the traffic would
bear. I wonder what Charlie Ducommun would say if he could
return to life and see his sons conducting a large, modern whole-
sale hardware establishment on an avenue never thought of in
his day and where once stretched acres of fruit and vine lands !
Ducommun Street commemorates this pioneer.
Ozro W. Childs, who came to Los Angeles in November,
1850, was for awhile in partnership with J. D. Hicks, the firm
being known as Childs & Hicks. They conducted a tin-shop on
Commercial Street, in a building about twenty by forty feet.
In 1861, H. D. Barrows joined them, and hardware was added
to the business. Somewhat later the firm was known as J. D.
Hicks & Company. In 1 87 1 , Barrows bought out the Childs and
Hicks interests, and soon formed a partnership with W. C.
Furrey, although the latter arrived in Los Angeles only in 1872.
When Barrows retired, Furrey continued alone for several years.
The W. C. Furrey Company was next organized, with James W.
Hellman as the active partner of Furrey, and with Simon Maier,
the meat-packer and brother of the brewer, and J. A. Graves
as stockholders. Hellman, in time, succeeded this company
and continued for himself. When Childs withdrew, he went in
for importing and selling exotic trees and plants, and made his
home place, in more modern days known as the Huntington
Purchase and running from Main to Hill and Eleventh to
Twelfth streets, wonderfully attractive to such tourists as then
chanced this way; he also claimed to be the pioneer floricul-
turist of Los Angeles County. Toward the end of his life,
Childs erected on Main Street, south of First, a theater styled
an opera house and later known as the Grand, which was
popular in its time. Childs Avenue bears the family name.
Labatt Brothers had one of the leading dry goods houses,
which, strange as it may seem, they conducted in a part of the
70 Sixty Years in Southern California [i8s3
Abel Stearns home, corner of Main and Arcadia streets, now-
occupied by the Baker Block. Their establishment, while the
most pretentious and certainly the most specialized of its day
in town, and therefore patronized by our well-to-do people,
would nevertheless make but a sorry appearance in comparison
with even a single department in any of the mammoth stores of
to-day.
Jacob Elias was not only here in 1853, in partnership with his
brother under the firm name of Elias Brothers, but he also
induced some of his friends in Augusta, Georgia, to migrate to
California. Among those who came in 1854 were Pollock,
whose given name I forget, and L. C, better known as Clem
Goodwin. The latter clerked for awhile for Elias Brothers, after
which he associated himself with Pollock under the title of
Pollock & Goodwin. They occupied premises at what was then
the corner of Aliso Street and Nigger Alley, and the site, some
years later, of P. Beaudry's business when we had o\ir interest-
ing contest, the story of which I shall relate in due time. Pol-
lock & Goodwin continued in the general merchandise business
for a few years, after which they returned to Augusta.
Goodwin, however, came back to California in 1864 a Bene-
dick, and while in San Francisco accidentally met Louis Po-
laski who was then looking for an opening. Goodwin induced
Polaski to enter into partnership with him, and the well-known
early clothing house of Polaski & Goodwin was thus estab-
lished in the Downey Block. In 1867, they bought out I. W.
Hellman and moved over to the southeast corner of Commercial
and Main streets. Goodwin sold out to Polaski in 188 1, when
the firm became Polaski & Sons; in 1883 Sam, Isidor and
Myer L. Polaski bought out their father, and in time Polaski
Brothers also withdrew. Goodwin became Vice-president of the
Farmers & Merchants Bank. Polaski died in 1900, Goodwin
having preceded him a short time before. Goodwin left his wife
some valuable property, and as they were without issue, she so
richly endowed the Children's Hospital, at her death, that the
present building was made possible.
The Lanfranco brothers — Juan T. and Mateo — came from
i8s3] Merchants and Shops 71
Genoa, Italy, by way of Lima, Peru and New York, whence
they crossed the Plains with James Lick the carpenter later so
celebrated, and they were both here in business in 1853; Juan,
a small capitalist or petit rentier, living where the Lanfranco
Building now stands, opposite the Federal Building, while
Mateo kept a grocery store on Main Street, not far from Com-
mercial. In 1854, Juan added to his independence by marrying
Senorita Petra Pilar, one of fourteen children of Don Jose
Loreto Sepulveda, owner of the Palos Verdes rancho; the celebra-
tion of the nuptials, in dancing and feasting, lasting five days.
It was at that ranch that a great stampede of cattle occurred,
due to fright when the pioneer sulky, imported by Juan Lan-
franco from San Francisco, and then a strange object, was
driven into their midst. About 1861, the first Lanfranco Build-
ing was erected. Mateo died on October 4th, 1873, while
Juan passed away on May 20th, 1875. His wife died in 1877. A
daughter married Walter Maxwell; a. second daughter became
the wife of Walter S. Moore, for years Chief of the Fire Depart-
ment; and still another daughter married Arthtu Brentano,
one of the well-known Paris and New York booksellers.
Solomon Lazard and Maurice Kremer, cousins of about the
same age, and natives of Lorraine, were associated in 1853
under the title of Lazard & Kremer, being located in a
storeroom in Mellus's Row, and I may add that since nearly
all of the country development had taken place in districts
adjacent to San Gabriel, El Monte and San Bernardino,
travel through Aliso Street was important enough to make
their situation one of the best in town. Lazard had arrived in
San Francisco in 1851, and having remained there about a year,
departed for San Diego, where it was his intention to engage in
the dry goods business. Finding that there were not enough
people there to maintain such an establishment of even moder-
ate proportions, Lazard decided upon the advice of a seafaring
man whom he met to remove his stock, which he had brought
from the Northern town, to Los Angeles. He told me that he
paid fifty-six dollars' steamer fare from San Francisco to San
Diego, and that the freight on his merchandise cost him twenty
72 Sixty Years in Southern California [issa
dollars a ton. Among his native friends, Lazard was always
known as Don Solomon, and being popular, he frequently
acted as floor-manager at balls and fandangos. Lazard is still
living at the good old age of eighty-seven years. Kremer also
reached here in 1852. In time, Timoteo Wolfskill, a son of
William Wolfskill, bought Kremer's interest, and the firm
name became Lazard & Wolfskill. Each of these worthy
pioneers in his day rendered signal service to the community
— Lazard serving as Councilman in 1862; and I shall have
occasion, therefore, to refer to them again. Abe Lazard, a
brother of Solomon, who had spent some years in South
America, came in the late fifties. Dr. E. M. Lazard is a
son of S. Lazard.
While speaking of San Diego, I may remark that it was
quite fifteen years before the interesting old Spanish settlement
to the South, with which I had no business relations, attracted
me; and as I was no exception, the reader may see how seldom
the early settlers were inclined to roam about merely for sight-
seeing.
In 1853, M. Norton and E. Greenbaum sold merchandise at
the southwest corner of Los Angeles and Commercial streets
(when Jacob, J. L., an early Supervisor and City Treasurer,
1863-64 and Moritz Morris, Councilman in 1869-70, were
competitors). In time, Jacob returned to Germany, where he
died. Herman Morris, a brother, was a local newspaper re-
porter. Jacob Letter was another rival, who removed to
Oakland. Still another dealer in general merchandise was M.
Michaels, almost a dwarf in size, who emigrated to South
America. Casper Behrendt — father-in-law of John Kahn, a
man prominent in many movements — who arrived in 1851,
was another Commercial Street merchant. Still other early
merchants whom I somewhat distinctly recall were Israel
Fleishman and JuHus Sichel, who had a glassware, crockery
and hardware business; and L. Lasky, on Commercial Street.
Thomas D. Mott, father of John Mott, the attorney, who
was lured to California by the gold-fever of 1849, and to Los
Angeles, three years later, by the climate, I met on the day of
i8s3] Merchants and Shops 73
my arrival. His room adjoined my brother's store, so that we
soon formed an acquaintanceship which ripened, in the course
of time, into a friendship that endured until the day of his
death. In the early sixties, he was the proprietor of a livery
stable on Main Street, opposite the Stearns home. He was
very fond of hunting, being an expert at dropping a bird on the
wing; and frequently went dove-shooting with his friends.
All of which, insignificant as it may at first appear, I men-
tion for the purpose of indicating the neighborhood of these
operations. The hunting-ground covered none other than that
now lying between Main and Olive streets from about Sixth
Street to Pico, and teeming to-day, as the reader knows, with
activity and life. There sportsmen hunted, while more matter-
of-fact burghers frequently went with scythes to cut grass for
their horses.
Prudent Beaudry, a native of Quebec destined to make and
lose several fortunes, was here when I came, having previously
been a merchant in San Francisco when staple articles —
such as common tacks, selling at sixteen dollars a package! —
commanded enormous prices. Two or three times, however,
fire obliterated all his savings, and when he reached Los
Angeles, Beaudry had only about a thousand dollars' worth of
goods and two or three hundred dollars in cash. With these as-
sets he opened a small store on Main Street, opposite the Abel
Stearns home ; and again favored by the economic conditions of
the times, he added to his capital very rapidly. From Main
Street Beaudry moved to Commercial, forming partnerships
successively with a man named Brown and with one Le Maitre.
As early as 1854, Beaudry had purchased the property at the
northeast corner of Aliso Street and Nigger Alley for eleven
thousand dollars, and this he so improved with the additional
investment of twenty-five thousand dollars that he made his
now elongated adobe bring him in an income of a thousand a
month. As stated elsewhere, Beaudry went to Europe in 1855,
returning later to Montreal; and it was not until 1861 or later
that he came back to Los Angeles and reengaged in business,
this time in his own building where until 1865 he thrived.
74 Sixty Years in Southern California [i8s3
withdrawing, as I shall soon show, in the beginning of 1866.
Beaudry Avenue recalls this early and important man of affairs.
David W. Alexander, Phineas Banning's enterprising
partner in establishing wagon-trains, was here when I came and
was rather an influential person. An Irishman by birth, he had
come to California from Mexico by way of Salt Lake, in the
early forties, and lived for awhile in the San Bernardino coun-
tr5^ From 1844 to 1849, John Temple and he had a store at San
Pedro, and still later he wasassociated inbusiness with Banning,
selling out his interest in 1855. In 1850, Alexander was Presi-
dent of the first Common Council of Los Angeles, being one of
the two members who completed their term; in 1852, he visited
Europe; and in September, 1855, he was elected Sheriff of the
County, bringing to his aid the practical experience of a Ranger.
Before keeping store, Alexander had farmed for awhile on the
Rincon rancho; he continued to hold a large extent of acreage
and in 1872 was granted a patent to over four thousand acres
in the Providencia, and in 1874 to nearly seventeen thou-
sand acres in the Tejunga rancho. George C. Alexander, David's
brother, was Postmaster at San Pedro in 1857.
The Hazards arrived in 1853 with a large family of children.
Captain A. M. Hazard having made his way with ox-teams from
the East, via Salt Lake, on a journey which consumed nearly
two years. At first they took up a claim about four miles from
Los Angeles, which was later declared Government land. The
eldest son, Daniel, was employed by Banning as a teamster,
traveling between Los Angeles and Yuma; but later he set up
in the teaming business for himself. George W. Hazard became
a dealer in saddlery in Requena Street; and taking an active
interest in the early history of Los Angeles, he collected, at
personal sacrifice, souvenirs of the past, and this collection has
become one of the few original sources available for research. '
In 1889, Henry T. Hazard, after having served the City as its
Attorney, was elected Mayor, his administration being marked
by no little progress in the town's growth and expansion.
Henry, who married a daughter of Dr. William Geller, and
'George Hazard died on February 8th, 1914.
i8s3] Merchants and Shops 75
after whom Hazard Street is named, is the only one of the
brothers who survives.
Sam Meyer, who met me, as related, when I alighted from
the stage, was another resident of Los Angeles prior to my com-
ing. He had journeyed from Germany to America in 1849, had
spent four years in New Orleans, Macon, and other Southern
cities, and early in 1853 had come to California. On Main
Street, south of Requena, I found him, with Hilliard Loewen-
stein, in the dry goods business, an undertaking they contin-
ued until 1856, when Loewenstein returned to Germany,
to marry a sister of Meyer. Emanuel Loewenstein, one of the
issue of this marriage, and a jolly, charitable fellow, is well
known about town. On December 15th, 1 861, Meyer married
Miss Johanna,' daughter of S. C. and Rosalia Davis, and
the same year formed a partnership with Davis in the crockery
business. After two and a half years of residence in Ger-
many, Loewenstein returned to Los Angeles. Meyer, so long
identified with local freemasonry, died in 1903. A daughter
married Max Loewenthal, the attorney.
Baruch Marks, one of the very few people yet living
who were here when I arrived, is now about ninety-one years
of age, and still ^ a resident of Los Angeles. He was with Louis
Schlesinger (who lost his life when the Ada Hancock was de-
stroyed) and Hyman Tischler in the general merchandise
business in 1853 at Mellus's Row, the firm being known as B.
Marks & Company; and having prospered, he went to Berlin.
There, after the Franco-Prussian War, when much disaster befell
speculators, he lost most of his means ; and greatly reduced in
resources, he returned to Los Angeles. Since then, however,
he has never been able to retrieve his fortune. Luckily he
enjoys good health, even being able at his advanced age, as
he told me recently, to shave himself.
In 185 1, Herman Schlesinger reached Los Angeles and
engaged in the dry goods business with Tobias Sherwinsky.
In 1855, Moritz Schlesinger, Herman's brother, came here and
'Mrs. Meyer died on September 4th, 1914.
"Marks died on July 9th, 1914.
76 Sixty Years in Southern California [1853
clerked for the firm. In 1857, Schlesinger & Sherwinsky,
having made, approximately, fourteen thousand dollars, which
they divided, sold out to Moritz Schlesinger and returned to
Germany. A few years later Sherwinsky lost his money and,
coming back to California, located in San Diego where he
died. Schlesinger remained in Germany and died there, about
1900.
Collins Wadhams had a general store on the northeast
corner of Main and Commercial streets — a piece of property
afterward bought by Charlie Ducommun. At another time,
Wadhams & Foster were general merchants who, succeeding to
the business of Foster & McDougal, were soon followed by
Douglass, Foster & Wadhams. Clerking for this firm when
I came was William W. Jenkins, who left for Arizona, years
afterward, where he led an adventurous life.
Henry G. Yarrow, often called Cuatro Ojos or four eyes,
from the fact that he wore a pair of big spectacles on a large
hooked nose, was an eccentric character of the fifties and later.
He once conducted a store at the southwest corner of Los Ange-
les and Requena streets, and was the Jevne of his day in so
far as he dealt in superior and exceptional commodities gener-
ally not found in any other store. In other respects, however,
the comparison fails ; for he kept the untidiest place in town, and
his stock was fearfully jumbled together, necessitating an in-
definite search for every article demanded. The store was a
little low room in an adobe building about twenty feet long and
ten feet wide, with another room in the rear where Yarrow
cooked and slept. He was also a mysterious person, and nobody
ever saw the inside of this room. His clothes were of the
commonest material; he was polite and apparently well-bred;
yet he never went anywhere for social intercourse, nor did he
wish anyone to call upon him except for trade. Aside from the
barest necessities, he was never known to spend any money,
and so he came to be regarded as a miser. One morning he was
found dead in his store, and for some time thereafter people
dug in his backyard searching for the earnings believed to have
been secreted there; but not a cent of his horde was ever
i8s3] Merchants and Shops 77
found. There were all kinds of rumors, however, respecting
Yarrow. One was to the effect that he was the scion of a noted
English family, and that disappointment in love had sovued
and driven him from the world ; while another report was that
his past had been somewhat shady. Nobody, apparently,
knew the truth; but I personally believe that Yarrow was
honest, and know that when at one time, despite his efforts, he
failed in business, he endeavored to settle his debts upon the
most honorable basis.
Charles Hale, later associated with M. W. Childs, had a
tin-shop just where Stearns's Arcadia Block now stands. This
shop stood on elevated ground, making his place of business
rather difficult of access ; from which the reader will gain some
idea of the irregular appearance of the landscape in early days.
Hale in time went to Mexico, where he was reported to have
made a fortune.
August Ulyard arrived with his wife on the last day of
December, 1852, and rented a house near the Plaza. In com-
petition with Joseph Lelong, who had established his Jenny
Lind bakery a couple of years previous, Ulyard opened a bake-
shop, making his first bread from yeast which Mrs. Ulyard had
brought with her across the Plains. There had been nothing
but French bread in Los Angeles up to that time, but Ulyard
began to introduce both German and American bread and cake,
which soon found favor with many; later he added freshly-
baked crackers. After a while, he moved to the site of the
Natick House, at the southwest comer of Main and First
streets ; and once he owned the southwest corner of Fifth and
Spring streets, on which the Alexandria Hotel now stands.
Having no children of their own, Ulyard and his wife adopted
first one and then another, until eventually they had a family
of seven!
Picturing these .unpretentious stores, I recall a custom
long prevalent here among the native population. Just as in
Mexico a little lump of sugar called a pilon, or something
equally insignificant, was given with even the smallest pur-
chase, so here some trifle, called a pilon, was thrown in to
78 Sixty Years in Southern California [1853
please the buyer. And if a merchant neglected to offer such
a gratuity, the customer was almost certain to ask for it.
Among the meat-handlers, there were several Sentous broth-
ers, but those with whom I was more intimately acquainted
were Jean and Louis, father of Louis Sentous the present
French Consul, both of whom, if I mistake not, came about the
middle of the fifties. They engaged in the sheep business ; and
later Louis had a packing-house of considerable importance
located between Los Angeles and Santa Monica, where he also
owned over a thousand acres of valuable land which he sold
some time before his death. They were very successful; and
Sentous Street bears their name. Jean died in 1903, and Louis
a few years later.
Refugio Botello was another wholesale cattle- and meat-
dealer.
Arthtir McKenzie Dodson, who came here in 1850 and
later married Miss Reyes, daughter of Nasdrio Dominguez, con-
ducted a butcher shop and one of the first grocery stores. He
was also the first to make soap here. For a while Dodson was
in partnership with John Benner who, during a quarter of a
century when in business for himself, in the old Temple adobe
on Main Street, built up an important trade in the handling of
meat. James H. Dodson is Arthur's son.
Santiago Bollo also kept a small grocery.
' " Hog " Bennett was here in the middle fifties. He raised
and killed hogs, and cured the ham and bacon which he sold
to neighboring dealers.
Possessed as he was of an unusual sense of rectitude, I
esteemed Francisco Solano, father of Alfredo Solano, for his
many good qualities. He was in the butcher business in
Sonora Town, and was prosperous in the early fifties.
An odd little store was that of Madame Salandie, who came
to California in 1849, on the same vessel that brought Lorenzo
Leek. She had a butcher shop; but, rather curiously, she was
also a money-lender.
I believe that Jack Yates was here in 1853. He owned the
first general laundry, located on Los Angeles Street between
i8s3] Merchants and Shops 79
First and Requena, and conducted it with success and profit
for many years, until he succumbed to the competition of the
Chinese. Yates's daughter, Miss Mary D., married H. J.
Woollacott, at one time a prominent financier.
More than once, in recording these fragmentary recollec-
tions, I have had occasion to refer to persons who, at one
time or another, were employed in a very different manner
than in a later period of their lives. The truth is that
in the early days one's occupation did not weigh much in the
balance, provided only that he was honorable and a good
citizen; and pursuits lowly to-day were then engaged in by
excellent men. Many of the vocations of standing were un-
known, in fact, fifty or sixty years ago ; and refined and educated
gentlemen often turned their attention to what are now con-
sidered humble occupations.
CHAPTER VII
IN AND NEAR THE OLD PUEBLO
1853
ABOUT the time when I arrived, Assessor Antonio F.
Coronel reported an increase in the City and County
assessment of over eight hundred and five thousand
dollars, but the number of stores was really limited, and the
amount of business involved was in proportion. The commun-
ity was like a village ; and such was the provincial character of
the town that, instead of indicating the location of a store or
ofifice by a number, the advertiser more frequently used such
a phrase as "opposite the Bella Union," "near the Express
Office," or "vis-d-vis to Mr. Temple's." Nor was this of great
importance: change of names and addresses were frequent in
business establishments in those days — an indication, perhaps,
of the restless spirit of the times.
Possibly because of this uncertainty as to headquarters,
merchants were indifferent toward many advertising aids con-
sidered to-day rather essential. When I began business in Los
Angeles, most of the storekeepers contented themselves with
signs rudely lettered or painted on unbleached cloth, and nailed
on the outside of the adobe walls of their shops. Later, their
signs were on bleached cloth and secured in frames without
glass. In 1865, we had a painted wooden sign; and still later,
many establishments boasted of letters in gold on the glass
doors and windows. So too, when I first came here, merchants
wrote their own billheads and often did not take the trouble to
80
[1853] In and Near the Old Pueblo 8i
do that; but within two or three years afterward, they began
to have them printed.
People were also not as particular about keeping their
places of business open all day. Proprietors would sometimes
close their stores and go out for an hour or two for their meals,
or to meet in a friendly game of billiards. During the monot-
onous days when but little business was being transacted, it
was not uncommon for merchants to visit back and forth and to
spend hours at a time in playing cards. To provide a substitute
for a table, the window sill of the thick adobe was used, the
visitor seating himself on a box or barrel on the outside, while
the host within at the window would make himself equally
comfortable. Without particularizing, it is safe to state that
the majority of early traders indulged in such methods of killing
time. During this period of miserably lighted thorough-
fares, and before the arrival of many American families, those
who did not play cards and billiards in the saloons met at night
at each other's stores where, on an improvised table, they in-
dulged in a little game of draw.
Artisans, too, were among the pioneers. William H. Perry,
a carpenter by trade, came to Los Angeles on February ist, 1853,
bringing with him, and setting up here, the first stationary
steam engine. In May, 1855, seeing an opportunity to expand,
he persuaded Ira- Gilchrist to form a partnership with him
under the name of W. H. Perry & Company. A brief month
later, however — so quickly did enterprises evolve in early Los
Angeles — Perry gave up carpentering and joined James D.
Brady in the furniture business. Their location was on Main
Street between Arcadia and the Plaza. They continued together
several years, until Wallace Woodworth — one of Tom Mott's
horsemen who went out to avenge the death of Sheriff Barton
— bought out Brady's interest, when the firm became Perry &
Woodworth. They prospered and grew in importance, their
speciality being inside cabinet-work; and on September 6th,
1861, they established a lumberyard in town, with the first
regular saw- and planing-mills seen here. They then manu-
factured beehives, furniture and upholstery, and contracted
82 Sixty Years in Southern California [1853
for building and house- furnishing. In 1863, Stephen H.,
brother of Tom Mott, joined the firm. Perry & Woodworth
were both active in politics, one being a Councilman, the
other a Supervisor — the latter, a Democratic leader, going as a
delegate to the convention that nominated General Winfield
S. Hancock for the presidency. Their political affiliations
indeed gave them an influence which, in the awarding of con-
tracts, was sufficient to keep them supplied with large orders.
Woodworth 's demise occurred in 1883. Perry died on October
30th, 1906.
Nels Williamson, a native of Maine and a clever fellow,
was another carpenter who was here when I arrived. He had
come across the Plains from New Orleans in 1852 as one of a
party of twenty. In the neighborhood of El Paso de Aguila
they were all ambushed by Indians, and eighteen members of
the party were killed; Williamson, and Dick Johnson, afterward
a resident of Los Angeles, being the two that escaped. On a
visit to Kern County, Nels was shot by a hunter who mistook
him for a bear; the result of which was that he was badly
crippled for life. So long as he lived — and he approached
ninety years — Nels, like many old-timers, was horribly profane.
Henri Penelon, a fresco-painter, was here in 1853, and was
recognized as a decorator of some merit. When the old Plaza
Church was renovated, he added some ornamental touches to it.
At a later period, he was a photographer as well as a painter.
Among the blacksmiths then in Los Angeles was a well-
known German, John Goller, who conducted his trade in his
own shop, occupying about on6 hundred feet on Los Angeles
Street where the Los Angeles Saddlery Company is now
located. Goller was an emigrant who came by way of the Salt
Lake route, and who, when he set tip as the pioneer blacksmith
and wagon-maker, was supplied by Louis Wilhart, who had a
tannery on the west side of the river, with both tools and
customers. When Goller arrived, ironworkers were scarce,
and he was able to command pretty much his own prices.
He charged sixteen dollars for shoeing a horse and used to
laugh as he told how he received nearly five hundred dollars
i853l In and Near the Old Pueblo 83
for his part in rigging up the awning in front of a neighboring
house. When, in 1851, the Court of Sessions ordered the
Sheriff to see that fifty lances were made for the volunteer
Rangers, Goller secured the contract. Another commission
which he filled was the making for the County of a three-inch
branding-iron with the letters, L. A. There being little iron in
stock, Goller bought up old wagon-tires cast away on the plains,
and converted them into various utensils, including even horse-
shoes. As an early wagon-maker he had rather a discouraging
experience, his first wagon remaining on his hands a good while :
the natives looked upon it with inquisitive distrust and still
clung to their heavy carretas. He had introduced, however,
more modem methods, and gradually he established a good
sale. Afterward he extended his field of operations, the
late sixties finding him shipping wagons all over the State.
His prosperity increased, and Mullaly, Porter & Ayers con-
structed for him one of the first brick buildings in Los Angeles.
A few years later, Goller met with heavy financial reverses,
losing practically all that he had.
I have stated that no care was given to either the streets or
sidewalks, and a daily evidence of this was the confusion in the
neighborhood of John's shop, which, together with his yard,
was one of the sights of the little town because the blacksmith
had strewn the footway, and even part of the road, with all
kinds of piled-up material; to say nothing of a lot of horses
invariably waiting there to be shod. The result was that
passers-by were obliged to make a detour into the often muddy
street to get around and past Goller's premises.
John Ward was an Angelefio who knew something of the
transition from heavy to lighter vehicles. He was born in Vir-
ginia and took part in the Battle of New Orleans. In the thir-
ties he went to Santa Fe, in one of the earliest prairie schooners
to that point; thence he came to Los Angeles for a temporary
stay, making the trip in the first carriage ever brought to the
Coast from a Yankee workshop. In 1849, he returned for
permanent residence; and here he died in 1859.
D. Anderson, whose daughter married Jerry Newell, a
84 Sixty Years in Southern California [1853
pioneer of 1856, was a carriage-maker, having previously been
in partnership with a man named Burke in the making of pack-
saddles. After a while, when Anderson had a shop on Main
Street, he commenced making a vehicle somewhat lighter than
a road wagon and less elaborate than a carriage. With mate-
rials generally purchased from me he covered the vehicle, mak-
ing it look like a hearse. A newspaper clipping evidences
Anderson's activity in the middle seventies — "a little shaky
on his pins, but cordial as ever."
Carriages were very scarce in California at the time
of my arrival, although there were a few, Don Abel Stearns
possessing the only private vehicle in Los Angeles; and trans-
portation was almost entirely by means of saddle-horses, or the
native, capacious carretas. These consisted of a heavy plat-
form, four or five by eight or ten feet in size, mounted on two
large, solid wheels, sawed out of logs, and were exceedingly
primitive in appearance, although the owners sometimes
decorated them elaborately; while the wheels moved on
coarse, wooden axles, affording the traveler more jounce
than restful ride. The carretas served, indeed, for nearly all
the carrying business that was done between the ranchos and
Los Angeles; and when in operation, the squeaking could be
heard at a great distance, owing especially to the fact that the
air being undisturbed by factories or noisy traffic, quiet gener-
ally prevailed. So solid were these vehicles that, in early wars,
they were used for barricades and the making of temporary
corrals, and also for transporting cannon.
This sharp squeaking of the carreta, however, while pene-
trating and disagreeable in the extreme, served a purpose,
after all, as the signal that a buyer was approaching town;
for the vehicle was likely to have on board one or even two
good-sized families of women and children, and the keenest
expectation of our little business world was consequently
aroused, bringing merchants and clerks to the front of their
stores. A couple of oxen, by means of ropes attached to
their horns, pulled the carretas, while the men accompanied their
families on horseback ; and as the roving oxen were inclined to
i8s3] In and Near the Old Pueblo 85
leave the road, one of the riders (wielding a long, pointed stick)
was kept busy moving from side to side, prodding the wandering
animals and thus holding them to the highway. Following
these carrelas, there were always from twenty-five to fifty
dogs, barking and howling as if mad.
Some of the carrelas had awnings and other tasteful trim-
mings, and those who could afford it spent a great deal of
money on saddles and bridles. Each caballero was supplied with
a reata (sometimes locally misspelled riata) or leathern rope,
one end of which was tied around the neck of the horse while
the other — coiled and tied to the saddle when not in use — was
held by the horseman when he went into a house or store;
for hitching posts were unknown, with the natural result
that there were many runaways. When necessary, the reata
was lowered to the level of the ground, to accommodate
passers-by. Riders were always provided with one or two
pistols, to say nothing of the knife which was frequently a
part of the armament ; and I have seen even sabers suspended
from the saddles.
As I have remarked, Don Abel Stearns owned the first
carriage in town ; it was a strong, but rather light and graceful
vehicle, with a closed top, which he had imported from Boston
in 1853, to please Dona Arcadia, it was said. However that may
be, it was pronounced by Don Abel's neighbors the same dismal
failure, considering the work it would be called upon to per-
form under California conditions, as these wiseacres later
estimated the product of John GoUer's carriage shop to be.
Speaking of Goller, reminds me that John Schumacher gave
him an order to build a spring wagon with a cover, in which he
might take his family riding. It was only a one-horse affair,
but probably because of the springs and the top which afforded
protection from both the sun and the rain, it was looked upon
as a curiosity.
It is interesting to note, in passing, that John H. Jones, who
was brought from Boston as a coachman by Henry Melius — ■
while Mrs. Jones came as a seamstress for Mrs. Melius — and
who for years drove for Abel Stearns, left a very large estate
86 Sixty Years in Southern California [1853
when he died, including such properties as the northeast
corner of Fifth and Spring streets, the northwest corner of
Main and Fifth streets (where, for several years, he resided,)
and other sites of great value ; and it is my recollection that
his wage as coachman was the sole basis of this huge accu-
mulation. Stearns, as I mention elsewhere, suffered for years
from financial troubles; and I have always understood that
during that crisis Jones rendered his former employer assistance.
Mrs. Fremont, the General's wife, also owned one of the
first carriages in California. It was built to order in the East
and sent around the Horn; and was constructed so that it
could be fitted up as a bed, thus enabling the distinguished lady
and her daughter to camp wherever night might overtake them.
Shoemakers had a hard time establishing themselves in Los
Angeles in the fifties. A German shoemaker — perhaps I should
say a Schuhmachermeister! — was said to have come and gone
by the beginning of 1852; and less than a year later, Andrew
Lehman, a fellow-countryman of John Behn, arrived from Ba-
den and began to solicit trade. So much, however, did the gen-
eral stores control the sale of boots and shoes at that time, that
Lehman used to say it was three years before he began to make
more than his expenses. Two other shoemakers, Morris and
Weber, came later. Slaney Brothers, in the late sixties,
opened the first shoe store here.
In connection with shoemakers and their lack of patronage,
I am reminded of the different foot gear worn by nearly every
man and boy in the first quarter of a century after my arrival,
and the way they were handled. Then shoes were seldom
used, although clumsy brogans were occasionally in demand.
Boots were almost exclusively worn by the male population,
those designed for boys usually being tipped with copper at the
toes. A dozen pair, of different sizes, came in a case, and often
a careful search was required through several boxes to find
just the size needed. At such times, the dealer would fish out
one pair after another, tossing them carelessly onto the floor;
and as each case contained odd sizes that had proven unsal-
able, the none too patient and sometimes irascible merchant had
1853] In and Near the Old Pueblo 87
to handle and rehandle the slow-moving stock. Some of the
boots were highly ornamented at the top, and made a fine
exhibit when displayed (by means of strings passing through
the boot straps) in front of the store. Boot-jacks, now as
obsolete as the boots themselves, are also an institution of that
past.
Well out in the country, where the Capitol Milling Com-
pany's plant now stands, and perhaps as successor to a still
earlier mill built there by an Englishman, Joseph Chapman
(who married into the Ortega family — since become famous
through Emile C. Ortega who, in 1898, successfully began
preserving California chilis), — was a small mill, run by water,
known as the Eagle Mills. This was owned at different times
by Abel Stearns, Francis Melius and J. R. Scott, and con-
ducted, from 1855 to 1868, by John Turner, who came here for
that purpose, and whose son, William, with Fred Lambourn
later managed the grocery store of Lambourn & Turner on Aliso
Street. The miller made poor flour indeed; though proba-
bly it was quite equal to that produced by Henry Dalton at
the Azusa, John Rowland at the Puente, Michael White at
San Gabriel, and the Theodore brothers at their Old Mill in Los
Angeles. The quantity of wheat raised in Southern California
was exceedingly small, and whenever the raw material became
exhausted, Turner's supply of flour gave out, and this indis-
pensable commodity was then procured from San Francisco.
Turner, who was a large-hearted man and helpful to his fellows,
died in 1878. In the seventies, the mill was sold to J. D.
Deming, and by him to J. Loew, who still controls the corpora-
tion, the activity of which has grown with the city.
Half a year before my coming to Los Angeles, or in
April, 1853, nearly twenty-five thousand square miles had been
lopped off from Los Angeles County, to create the County of
San Bernardino; and yet in that short time the Mormons, who
had established themselves there in 1851 as a colony on a
tract of land purchased from Diego Sepiilveda and the three
Lugos — Jose del Carmen, Jose Maria and Vicente — and
consisting of about thirty-five thousand acres, had quite
88 Sixty Years in Southern Californi [1853
succeeded in their agricultural and other ventures. Copying
somewhat the plan of Salt Lake City, they laid out a town a
mile square, with right-angled blocks of eight acres and irri-
gating zanjas parallel with the streets. In a short time, they
were raising corn, wheat (some of it commanding five dollars
a bushel), barley and vegetables; and along their route of
travel, by way of the Mormon metropolis, were coming to the
Southland many substantial pioneers. From San Bernardino,
Los Angeles drew her supply of butter, eggs and poultry ; and as
three days were ordinarily required for their transportation
across what was then known as the desert, these products
arrived in poor condition, particularly during the summer heat.
The butter would melt, and the eggs would become stale. This
disadvantage, however, was in part compensated for by the
economical advantage of the industry and thrift of the Mor-
mons, and their favorable situation in an open, fertile country;
for they could afford to sell us their produce very reasonably —
fifteen cents a dozen for eggs, and three dollars a dozen for
chickens well satisfying them! San Bernardino also supplied
all of our wants in the lumber line. A lumber yard was then
a prospect — seven or eight years elapsing before the first
yard and planing-mill were established; and this necessary
building material was peddled around town by the Mormon
teamsters who, after disposing of all they could in this manner,
bartered the balance to storekeepers to be later put on sale
somewhere near their stores.
But two towns broke the monotony of a trip between Los
Angeles and San Bernardino, and they were San Gabriel
Mission and El Monte. I need not remind my readers that
the former place, the oldest and quaintest settlement in the
county, was founded by Father Junipero Serra and his asso-
ciates in 1 77 1, and that thence radiated all of their operations
in this neighborhood; nor that, in spite of all the sacrifice and
human effort, matters with this beautifully-situated Mission
were in a precarious condition for several decades. It may be
less known, however, that the Mission Fathers excelled in the
cultivation of citrus fruits, and that their chief competitors, in
i8s3l In and Near the Old Pueblo 89
1853, were William Wolf skill and Louis Vignes, who were also
raising seedling oranges of a very good quality. The population
of San Gabriel was then principally Indian and Mexican, al-
though there were a few whites dwelling some distance away.
Among these, J. S. Mallard, afterward Justice of the Peace and
father of the present City Assessor, Walter Mallard, carried on
a small business; and Mrs. Laura Cecelia Evertsen — mother-in-
law of an old pioneer, Andrew J. King, whose wife is the tal-
ented daughter, Mrs. Laura Evertsen King — also had a store
there. Still another early storekeeper at the quaint settlement
was Max Lazard, nephew of Solomon Lazard, who later went
back to France. Another pioneer to settle near the San Gabriel
River was Louis Phillips, a native of Germany who reached
California in 1850, by way of Louisiana, and for a while did
business in a little store on the Long Wharf at San Francisco.
Then he came to Los Angeles, where he engaged in trade; in
1853, he bought land on which, for ten years or until he removed
to Spadra (where Mrs. Phillips still survives him) , he tilled the
soil and raised stock. The previous year, Hugo Reid, of whom
I often heard my neighbors speak in a complimentary way,
had died at San Gabriel where he had lived and worked. Reid
was a cultured Scotchman who, though born in the British Isles,
had a part, as a member of the convention, in making the firs£
Constitution for California. He married an Indian woman and,
in his leisure hours, studied the Indians on the mainland and
Catalina, contributing to the Los Angeles Star a series of
articles on the aborigines still regarded as the valuable testi-
mony of an eyewitness.
This Indian wife of the scholarly Reid reminds me of Nathan
Tuch, who came here in 1853, having formerly lived in
Cleveland where he lost his first wife. He was thoroughly
honest, very quiet and genteel, and of an affectionate dis-
position. Coming to California and San Gabriel, he opened
a little store; and there he soon married a full-blooded squaw.
Notwithstanding, however, the difference in their stations and
the fact that she was uneducated, Tuch always remained
faithful to her, and treated her with every mark of respect.
90 Sixty Years in Southern California [1853
When I last visited Tuch and his shop, I saw there a home-made
sign, reading about as follows:
THIS STORE BELONGS TO NATHAN TUCH,
NOW 73 YEARS OLD.
When he died, his wife permitted his burial in the Jewish
Cemetery.
Michael White was another pioneer, who divided his time
between San Gabriel and the neighborhood that came to be
known as San Bernardino, near which he had the rancho
Muscupiabe. Although drifting hither as long ago as 1828, he
died, in the late eighties, without farm, home or friends.
Cyrus Burdick was still another settler who, after leaving
Iowa with his father and other relatives in December, 1853,
stopped for a while at San Gabriel. Soon yoimg Burdick went to
Oregon ; but, being dissatisfied, he returned to the Mission and
engaged in farming. In 1855, he was elected Constable; a year
later, he opened a store at San Gabriel, which he conducted for
eight or nine years. Subsequently, the Burdicks lived in Los
Angeles, at the corner of First and Fort streets on the site
of the present Tajo Building. They also owned the northeast
comer of Second and Spring streets. This property became
the possession of Fred Eaton, through his marriage to Miss
Helen L. Burdick.
Fielding W. Gibson came early in the fifties. He had bought
at Sonora, Mexico, some five hundred and fifty head of cattle,
but his vaqueros kept up such a regular system of side-tracking
and thieving that, by the time he reached the San Gabriel
Valley, he had only about one-seventh of his animals left.
Fancying that neighborhood, he purchased two hundred and
fifty acres of land from Henry Dalton and located west of
El Monte, where he raised stock and broom corn.
El Monte — a name by some thought to refer to the ad-
jacent mountains, but actually alluding to the dense willow
forests then surrounding the hamlet — the oldest American
settlement in the county, was inhabited by a party of mixed
i8s3l In and Near the Old Pueblo 91
emigrants, largely Texans and including Ira W. Thompson who
opened the first tavern there and was the Postmaster when its
Post Office was officially designated Monte. Others were
Dr. Obed Macy and his son Oscar, of whom I speak elsewhere,
Samuel M. Heath and Charlotte Gray, who became John
Rowland's second wife; the party having taken possession, in
the summer of 1851, of the rich farming tract along the San
Gabriel River some eleven or twelve miles east of Los Angeles.
The summer before I came, forty or fifty more families arrived
there, and among them were A. J. King, afterward a citizen of
Los Angeles; Dr. T. A. Hayes, William and Ezekiel Rubottom,
Samuel King — ^A. J. King's father — J. A. Johnson, Jacob Weil,
A. Madox, A. J. Horn, Thomas A. Garey, who acquired quite
a reputation as a horticulturist, and Jonathan Tibbets, spoken
•of in another chapter. While tilling the soil, these farmer folks
made it their particular business to keep Whigs and, later,
Republicans out of office ; and slim were the chances of those
parties in El Monte and vicinity, but correspondingly enthusias-
tic were the receptions given Democratic candidates and their
followers visiting there. Another important function that
engaged these worthy people was their part in the lynchings
which were necessary in Los Angeles. As soon as they re-
ceived the cue, the Monte boys galloped into town; and being
by temperament and training, through frontier life, used to
dealing with the rougher side of human nattire, they were
recognized disciplinarians. The fact is that such was the
peculiar public spirit animating these early settlers that no one
could live and prosper at the Monte who was not extremely
virile and ready for any dare-devil emergency.
David Lewis, a Supervisor of 1855, crossed the continent
to the San Gabriel Valley in 1851, marrying there, in the follow-
ing year, a daughter of the innkeeper Ira Thompson, just
referred to. Thompson was a typical Vermonter and a good,
popular fellow, who long kept the Overland Stage station.
Sometime in the late fifties, Lewis was a pioneer in the growing
of hops. Jonathan Tibbets, who settled at El Monte the year
that I came to Los Angeles, had so prospered by 1871 that he
92 Sixty Years in Southern California [1853
left for the mines in Mohave County, Arizona, to inaugurate a
new enterprise, and took with him some twenty thousand
pounds of cured pork and a large quantity of lard, which had
been prepared at El Monte. Samuel M. Heath was another
El Monte pioneer of 1851; he died in 1876, kindly remem-
bered by many poor immigrants. H. L., J. S. and S. D. Thur-
man were farmers at El Monte, who came here in 1852.
E. C. Parish, who arrived in 1854 and became a Supervisor,
was also a ranchman there. Other El Monte folks, afterward
favorably spoken of, were the Hoyts, who were identified with
early local education.
Dr. Obed Macy, father of Mrs. Sam Foy, came to Los
Angeles from the Island of Nantucket, where he was born, by
way of Indiana, in which State he had practiced medicine,
arriving in Southern Cahfornia about 1850 and settling in El
Monte. He moved to Los Angeles, a year later, and bought the
Bella Union from Winston & Hodges; where were opened the
Alameda Baths, on the site of the building later erected by
his son Oscar. There Dr. Macy died on July 9th, 1857. Oscar,
a printer on the Southern Californian, had set type in San
Francisco, swung a miner's pick and afterward returned to El
Monte where he took up a claim which, in time, he sold to
Samuel King. Macy Street recalls this pioneer family.
The San Fernando and San Juan Capistrano missions, and
Agua Caliente, were the only other settlements in Los Angeles
County then; the former, famous by 1854 for its olives, passing
into history both through the activity of the Mission Fathers
and also the renowned set-to between Micheltorena and Cas-
tro when, after hours of cannonading and grotesque swinging
of the would-be terrifying reata, the total of the dead was — a
single mule! Then, or somewhat subsequently. General
Andres Pico began to occupy what was the most preten-
tious adobe in the State, formerlj'' the abode of the padres — a
building three hundred feet long, eighty feet wide and with
walls io\xr feet thick.
In 1853, there was but one newspaper in the city — a weekly
known as La Estrella de los Angeles or The Los Angeles Star,
i8s3] In and Near the Old Pueblo 93
printed half in Spanish, half in English. It was founded on
May 17th, 1851, by John A. Lewis and John McElroy, who had
their printing office in the lower room of a small wooden house
on Los Angeles Street, near the corral of the Bella Union hotel.
This firm later became Lewis, McElroy & Rand. There was
then no telegraphic communication with the outside world,
and the news ordinarily conveyed by the sheet was anything
but important. Indeed, all such information was known, each
week, by the handful of citizens in the little town long before
the paper was published, and delays in getting mail from a dis-
tance— in one case the post from San Francisco to Los Angeles
being under way no less than fifty- two days! — led to Lewis
giving up the editorship in disgust. When a steamer arrived,
some little news found its way into the paper; but even then
matters of national and international moment became known
in Los Angeles only after the lapse of a month or so. The
admission of California to the Union in 1850, for example, was
first reported on the Coast six weeks after Congress had voted
in California's favor; while in 1852, the deaths of Clay and
Webster were not known in the West until more than a month
after they had occurred. This was a slight improvement,
however, over the conditions in 1841 when (it used to be said)
no one west of the Rockies knew of President Harrison's demise
until over three months and a half after he was buried! Our
first Los Angeles newspaper was really more of an advertising
medium than anything else, and the printing outfit was de-
cidedly primitive, though the printers may not have been as
badly off as were the typos of the Calif or nian. The latter,
using type picked up in a Mexican cloister, found no W's
among the Spanish letters and had to set double F's until
more type was brought from the Cannibal or Sandwich Islands !
Which reminds me of Jose de la Rosa, born in Los Angeles
about 1790, and the first journeyman to set type in California,
who died over one hundred years old. But if the Estrella made a
poor showing as a newspaper, I have no doubt that, to add to
the editor's misfortunes, the advertising rates were so low that
his entire income was but small. In 1854, t^ie '5'tor and its
94 Sixty Years in Southern California [1853
imprenta, as it was then styled, were sold to a company or-
ganized by James S. Waite, who, a year later, was appointed
Postmaster of the city. Speaking of the Star, I should add that
one of its first printers was Charles Meyrs Jenkins, later City
Zanjero, who had come to California, a mere stripling, with his
stepfather, George Dalton, Sr.
The Post Office, too, at this time, was far from being an
important institution. It was located in an adobe building on
Los Angeles, between Commercial and Arcadia streets, and Dr.
William B. Osburn, sometimes known as Osbourn — who came
to California from New York in 1847, in Colonel Stevenson's
regiment, and who had established a drug store, such as it was,
in 1850 — had just been appointed Postmaster. A man who in
his time played many parts, Osburn had half a dozen other
irons in the fire besides politics (including the interests of a
floral nursery and an auction room), and as the Postmaster
was generally away from his office, citizens desiring their
mail would help themselves out of a soap box — subdivided like
a pigeon house, each compartment being marked with a letter;
and in this way the city's mail was distributed! Indifferent
as Dr. Osburn was to the postmastership (which, of course,
could not have paid enough to command anyone's exclusive
services) , he was rather a clever fellow and, somewhat naturally
perhaps for a student of chemistry, is said to have made as
early as August 9th, 1851, (and in connection with one Moses
Searles, a pioneer house and sign painter) the first daguerreo-
type photographs produced in Los Angeles. For two years or
more, Dr. Osburn remained Postmaster, resigning his office
on November ist, 1855. While he was a notary public, he
had an office in Keller's Building on Los Angeles Street. J. H.
Blond was another notary; he had an office opposite the Bella
Union on Main Street. Osburn died in Los Angeles on Jiily
31st, 1867.
No sooner had I arrived in San Francisco, than I became
aware of the excitement incidental to the search for gold, and on
reaching Los Angeles, I found symptoms of the same fever.
That year, as a matter of fact, recorded the highest output of
i853] In and Near the Old Pueblo 95
gold, something like sixty-five million dollars' worth being
mined; and it was not many months before all was bustle in
and about our little city, many people coming and going, and
comparatively few wishing to settle, at least until they had first
tried their luck with the pick and pan. Not even the discovery
of gold in the San Feliciano Canon, near Newhall, in the early
forties — ^for I believe the claim is made that Southern Cali-
fornians, while searching for wild onions, had the honor of
digging out, in the despised "cow-counties," the first lump of the
coveted metal — had set the natives so agog; so that while the
rush to the mines claimed many who might otherwise have be-
come permanent residents, it added but little to the prosperity
of the town, and it is no wonder that, for a while, the local news-
papers refused to give events the notice which they deserved.
To be sure, certain merchants — among them dealers in tinware,
hardware and groceries, and those who catered especially to
miners, carrying such articles as gold-washers, canteens and
camp -outfits — increased their trade ; but many prospective gold-
seekers, on their way to distant diggings, waited until they got
nearer the scene of their adventures before buying tools and
supplies, when they often exhausted their purses in paying the
exorbitant prices which were asked. Barring the success of
Francisco Garcia who used gangs of Indians and secured in the
one year 1855 over sixty thousand dollars' worth of gold —
one nugget being nearly two thousand dollars in value — the
placer gold-mining carried on in the San Gabriel and San Fran-
cisquito canons was on the whole unimportant, and what gold-
dust was produced at these points came to Los Angeles without
much profit to the toiling miners; so that it may be safely
stated that cattle- and horse-raising, of which I shall speak in
more detail, were Southern California's principal sources of
income. As for the gold dust secured, San Francisco was the
clearing-house for the Coast, and all of the dust ultimately
found its way there until sometime later Sacramento developed
and became a competitor. Coming, as I did, from a part of the
world where gold dust was never seen, at least by the layman,
this sudden introduction to sacks and bottles full of the fas-
96 Sixty Years in Southern California [iSssT
cinating yellow metal produced upon me, as the reader may
imagine, another one of those strange impressions fixing so
indelibly my first experiences in the new, raw and yet altogether
romantic world.
CHAPTER VIII
ROUND ABOUT THE PLAZA
1853-1854
AT the time of my arrival, the Plaza, long the nucleus of the
original settlement, was the center of life in the little
community, and around it clustered the homes of many
of those who were uppermost in the social scale, although some
of the descendants of the finest Spanish families were living in
other parts of the city. This was particularly so in the case of Jose
Andres Sepulveda, who had a beautiful old adobe on some acreage
that he owned northwest of Sonora Town, near the place where
he constructed a stone reservoir to supply his house with water.
Opposite the old Plaza Church dwelt a number of families of
position and, for the most part, of wealth — in many cases the
patrons of less fortunate or dependent ones, who lived nearby.
The environment was not beautiful, a solitary pepper, some-
what north of the Plaza, being the only shade-tree there ; yet the
general character of the homes was somewhat aristocratic, the
landscape not yet having been seriously disturbed by any utili-
tarian project such as that of the City Fathers who, by later
granting a part of the old square for a prosaic water tank,
created a greater rumpus than had the combative soldiers
some years before. The Plaza was shaped much as it is at
present, having been reduced considerably, but five or six
years earlier, by the Mexican authorities : they had planned to
improve its shape, but had finished their labors by contract-
ing the object before them. There was no sign of a park ; on
the contrary, parts of the Plaza itself, which had suffered the
7 97
98 Sixty Years in Southern California [1853-
same fate as the Plaza in San Francisco, were used as a dump-
ing-ground for refuse. From time to time many church and other
festivals were held at this square — a custom no doubt traceable
to the Old World and to earlier centuries ; but before any such
affair could take place — requiring the erecting of booths and
banks of vegetation in front of the neighboring houses — all rub-
bish had to be removed, even at the cost of several days' work.
Among the distinguished citizens of Los Angeles whose
residences added to the social prestige of the neighborhood
was Don Ygnacio Del Valle, father of R. F. Del Valle. Until
1 86 1, he resided on the east side of the square, in a house
between Calle de los Negros and Olvera Street, receiving there
his intimate friends as well as those who wished to pay him
their respects when he was Alcalde, Councilman and member
of the State Legislature. In 1861, Del Valle moved to his ranch,
Camulos. Ygnacio Coronel was another eminent burgher
residing on the east side of the Plaza, while Cristobal Aguilar's
home faced the South.
Not far from Del Valle's — that is, back of the later site of
the Pico House, between the futtue Sanchez Street and Calle
de los Negros — lived Don Pio Pico, then and long after a
striking figure, not merely on account of his fame as the last of
the Mexican governors, but as well because of his physique
and personality. I may add that as long as he lived, or at
least until the tide of his fortune turned and he was forced to
sell his most treasured personal effects, he invariably adorned
himself with massive jewelry of much value; and as a further
conceit, he frequently wore on his bosom Mexican decorations
that had been bestowed upon him for past official services.
Don Pio really preferred country life at the Ranchito, as his
place was called; but official duties and, later, illness and the
need of medical care, kept him in town for months at a time.
He had three sisters, two of whom married in succession Jos6
Antonio Carrillo, another resident at the Plaza and the then
owner of the site of the future Pico House ; while the third was
the wife of Don Juan Forster, in whose comfortable home Don
Pio found a retreat when distressing poverty overtook him in
i854] Round About the Plaza 99
old age. Sanchez Street recalls still another don of the neigh-
borhood, Vicente Sanchez, grandfather of Tomas A. Sanchez,
who was domiciled in a two-story and rather elaborate dwelling
near Carrillo, on the south side of the Plaza. Sanchez Hall
stood there until the late seventies.
The Beau Brummel of Los Angeles in the early fifties was
Don Vicente Lugo, whose wardrobe was made up exclusively
of the fanciest patterns of Mexican type; his home, one of the
few two-story houses in the pueblo, was close to Ygnacio Del
Valle's. Lugo, a brother of Don Jose Maria, was one of the
heavy taxpayers of his time; as late as i860, he had herds of
twenty-five hundred head of cattle, or half a thousand more
than Pio and Andres Pico together owned. Maria Ballestero,
Lugo's mother-in-law, lived near him.
Don Agustin Olvera dwelt almost opposite Don Vicente
Lugo's, on the north side of the Plaza, at the corner of the
street perpetuating his name. Don Agustin arrived from Mex-
ico, where he had been Juez de Paz, in 1834, or about the same
time that Don Ygnacio Coronel came, and served as Captain in
the campaign of Flores against Fremont, even negotiating peace
with the Americans ; then he joined Dr. Hope's volunteer police,
and was finally chosen, at the first election in Los Angeles,
Judge of the First Instance, becoming the presiding officer of
the Court of Sessions. Five or six years later, he was School
Commissioner. He had married Dofia Concepcion, one of not
less than twenty-two children of Don Santiago Arguello, son of
a governor of both Calif ornias, and his residence was at the
northeast end of the Plaza, in an adobe which is still standing.
There, while fraternizing with the newly-arrived Americans,
he used to tell how, in 1850, when the movement for the ad-
mission of California as a State was under way, he acted as
secretary to a meeting called in this city to protest against the
proposal, fearing lest the closer association with Northern
California would lead to an undue burden of taxes upon the
South. Olvera Street is often written by mistake, Olivera.
Francisco O'Campo was another man of means whose
home was on the east side of the Plaza. Although he was also a
100 Sixty Years in Southern California [1853-
member of the new Ayuntamiento, inaugurated in 1849, and al-
though he had occupied other offices, he was very improvident,
like so many natives of the time, and died, in consequence, a
poor man. In his later years, he used to sit on the curbstone
near the Plaza, a character quite forlorn, utterly dejected in
appearance, and despondently recalling the by-gone days of his
prosperity.
Don Cristobal Aguilar, several times in his career an
Alcalde, several times a City Councilman beginning with the
first organization of Los Angeles, and even twice or thrice
Mayor, was another resident near the Plaza. His adobe on
upper Main Street was fairly spacious; and partly, perhaps,
for that reason, was used by the Sisters of Charity when they
instituted the first hospital in Los Angeles.
A short distance from the Plaza, on Olvera Street, had long
stood the home of Don Jose Maria Abila, who was killed in
battle in the early thirties. It was there that Commodore
Stockton made his headquarters, and the story of how this
was brought about is one of the entertaining incidents of this
warlike period. The widow Abila, who had scant love for the
Americans, had fled with her daughters to the home of Don
Luis' Vignes, but not before she placed a native boy on guard,
cautioning him against opening either doors or windows.
When the young custodian, however, heard the flourishes of
Stockton's brass band, he could not resist the temptation to
learn what the excitement meant; so he first poked his head
out of a window, and finally made off to the Plaza. Some of
Stockton's staff, passing by, and seeing the tasteful furniture
within, were encouraged to investigate, with the result that
they selected the widow Abila's house for Stockton's abode.
Another Abila — Francisco — had an adobe at the present
southeast corner of San Fernando and Alpine streets.
Francisca Gallardo, daughter of one of the Sepvdvedas,
lived in the vicinity of the Plaza.
The only church in Los Angeles at this time was that of
Nuestra Senora la Reyyia de los Angeles, known as Our Lady, the
I Often spoken of as Don Louis.
i8s4] Round About the Plaza loi
Queen of the Angels, at the Plaza; and since but few changes
were made for years in its exterior, I looked upon the edifice as
the original adobe built here in the eighties of the preceding
century. When I came to inquire into the matter, however, I was
astonished to learn that the Church dated back no farther than
the year 1822, although the first attempt at laying a corner-
stone was made in 1815, probably somewhat to the east of the
old Plaza and a year or two after rising waters frustrated the
attempt to build a chapel near the river and the present Aliso
Street. Those temporary foundations seem to have marked
the spot where later the so-called Woman's Gun — once buried
by Mexicans, and afterward dug up by women and used at
the Battle of Dominguez Ranch — ^was long exposed to view,
propped up on wooden blocks. The venerable building I then
saw, in which all communicants for want of pews knelt on the
floor or stood while worshiping, is still admired by those to
whom age and sacred tradition, and the sacrifices of the early
Spanish Fathers, make appeal. In the first years of my residence
here, the bells of this honored old pile, ringing at six in the morn-
ing and at eight in the evening, served as a curfew to reg\alate
the daily activities of the town.
Had Edgar Allan Poe lived in early Los Angeles, he might
well have added to his poem one more stanza about these old
church bells, whose sweet chimes, penetrating the peace and
quiet of the sleepy village, not alone summoned the devout to
early mass or announced the time of vespers, but as well called
many a merchant to his day's labor and dismissed him to his
home or the evening's rendezvous. That was a time of senti-
ment and romance, and the memory of it lingers pleasantly in
contrast with the rush and bustle of to-day, when cold and
chronometrical exactitude, instead of a careless but, in its time,
sufficient measure of the hours, arranged the order of our
comings and our goings.
Incidental to the ceremonial activity of the old Church on
the Plaza, the Corpus Chrisli festival was one of the events of
the year when not the least imposing feature was the opening
procession around the Plaza. For all these occasions, the
102 Sixty Years in Southern California [1853-
square was thoroughly cleaned, and notable families, such as
the Del Valles, the Olveras, the Lugos and the Picos erected
before their residences temporary altars, decorated with silks,
satins, laces and even costly jewelry. The procession would
start from the Church after the four o'clock service and
proceed around the Plaza from altar to altar. There the
boys and girls, carrying banners and flowers, and robed
or dressed in white, paused for formal worship, the progress
through the square, small as the Plaza was, thus taking
a couple of hours. Each succeeding year the procession be-
came more resplendent and inclusive, and I have a distinct
recollection of a feature incidental to one of them when
twelve men, with twelve great burning candles, represented
the Apostles.
These midwinter festivities remind me that, on Christmas
Eve, the young people here performed pastoral plays. It was
the custom, much as it still is in Upper Bavaria, to call at the
homes of various friends and acquaintances and, after giving
little performances such as Los Pastores, to pass on to the next
house. A number of the Apostles and other characters asso-
ciated with the life of Jesus were portrayed, and the Devil, who
scared half to death the little children of the hamlet, was never
overlooked. The bunuelo, or native doughnut, also added its
delight to these celebrations.
And now a word about the old Spanish Missions in this
vicinity. It was no new experience for me to see religious
edifices that had attained great age, and this feature, therefore,
made no special impression. I dare say that I visited the
Mission of San Gabriel very soon after I arrived in Los Angeles;
but it was then less than a century old, and so was important
only because it was the place of worship of many natives.
The Protestant denominations were not as numerous then as
now, and nearly all of the population was Catholic. With
the passing of the years, sentimental reverence for the Span-
ish Fathers has grown greater and their old Mission homes
have acquired more and more the dignity of age. Helen
Hunt Jackson's Ramona, John S. McGroarty's Mission Play
John Jones
Captain and Mrs. J. S. Garcia
Captain Salisbury Haley
El Palacio, Home of Abel and Arcadia Steams
From a photograph of the seventies
The Lugo Ranch-house, in the Nineties
i8s4l Round About the Plaza 103
(in which, by the by, Senorita Lucretia, daughter of R. F. and
granddaughter of Don Ygnacio Del Valle, so ably portrays the
character of Dona Josefa Yorba) and various other literary
efforts have increased the interest in these institutions of the
past.
The missions and their chapels recall an old Mexican woman
who had her home, when I came to Los Angeles, at what is now
the southeast corner of San Pedro and First streets. She
dwelt in a typical adobe, and in the rear of her house was a
vineyard of attractive aspect. Adjoining one of the rooms of
her dwelling was a chapel, large enough, perhaps, to hold ten or
twelve people and somewhat like those on the Dominguez and
Coronel estates; and this chapel, like all the other rooms, had
an earthen floor. In it was a gaudily-decorated altar and crucifix.
The old lady was very religious and frequently repaired to her
sanctuary. From the sale of grapes, she derived, in part, her
income ; and many a time have I bought from her the privilege
of wandering through her vineyard and eating all I could of this
refreshing berry. If the grape-season was not on, neighbors
were none the less always welcome there; and it was in this
quiet and delightful retreat that, in 1856, I proposed marriage
to Miss Sarah Newmark, my future wife, such a mere girl that a
few evenings later I found her at home playing jackstones — •
then a popular game — with Mrs. J. G. Downey, herself a child.
But while Catholics predominated, the Protestant churches
had made a beginning. Rev. Adam Bland, Presiding Elder
of the Methodists in Los Angeles in 1854, had come here a
couple of years before, to begin his work in the good, old-
fashioned way; and, having bought the barroom. El Dorado,
and torn down Hughes's sign, he had transformed the place into
a chapel. But, alas for human foresight, or the lack of it : on at
least a part of the new church lot, the Merced Theater later
stood !
Two cemeteries were in existence at the time whereof I
write: the Roman Catholic — abandoned a few years ago —
which occupied a site on Buena Vista Street, and one, now long
deserted, for other denominations. This cemetery, which we
104 Sixty Years in Southern California [1853-
shall see was sadly neglected, thereby occasioning bitter
criticism in the press, was on Fort Hill. Later, another
burial-ground was established in the neighborhood of what is
now Flower and Figueroa streets, near Ninth, many years be-
fore there was any thought of Rosedale or Evergreen.
As for my co-religionists and their provision of a cemetery,
when I first came to Los Angeles they were without a definite
place for the interment of their dead; but in 1854 the first
steps were taken to establish a Jewish cemetery here, and
it was not very long before the first Jewish child to die in Los
Angeles, named Mahler, was buried there. This cemetery', on
land once owned and occupied by Jose Andres Sepulveda's
reservoir, was beautifully located in a recess or little pocket,
as it were, among the hills in the northwest section of the city,
where the environment of nature was in perfect harmony
with the Jewish ideal — "Home of Peace."
Mrs. Jacob Rich, by the way, had the distinction of being
the first Jewess to settle in Los Angeles; and I am under the
impression that Mrs. E. Greenbaum became the mother of the
first Jewish child born here.
Sam Prager arrived in 1854, and after clerking a while,
associated himself with the Morrises, who were just getting
nicely established. For a time, they met with much suc-
cess and were among the most important merchants of their
day. Finally they dissolved, and the Morris Brothers bought
the large tract of land which I have elsewhere described as
having been refused by Newmark, Kremer & Company in
liquidation of Major Henry Hancock's account. Here, for
several years, in a fine old adobe lived the Morris family, dis-
pensing a bountiful hospitality quite in keeping with the open-
handed manner of the times. In the seventies, the Morris
Brothers sold this property — later known as Morris Vineyard
■ — after they had planted it to vines, for the insignificant
sum of about twenty thousand dollars.
Following Sam Prager, came his brother Charles. For a
short time they were associated, but afterward they operated
independently, Charles Prager starting on Commercial Street,
i8s4] Round About the Plaza 105
on May 19th, 1869. Sam Prager, long known as "Uncle Sam,"
was a good-natured and benevolent man, taking a deep interest
in Masonic matters, becoming Master of 42, and a regular
attendant at the annual meetings of the Grand Lodge of
California. He was also Chairman of the Masonic Board of
Relief until the time of his death. Charles Prager and the
Morrises have all gone to that
undiscovered country, from whose bourn
No traveler returns.
In the summer of 1853, a movement was inaugurated,
through the combined efforts of Mayors Nichols and Coronel,
aided by John T. Jones, to provide public schools; and three
citizens, J. Lancaster Brent, Lewis Granger and Stephen C.
Foster, were appointed School Commissioners. As early as
1838, Ygnacio Coronel, assisted by his wife and daughter, had
accepted some fifteen dollars a month from the authorities —
to permit the exercise of official supervision — and opened a
school which, as late as 1854, he conducted in his own home;
thereby doubtless inspiring his son Antonio to take marked
interest in the education of the Indians. From time to time,
private schools, partly subsidized from public funds, were com-
menced. In May, 1854, Mayor Foster pointed out that, while
there were fully five hundred children of school age and the
pueblo had three thousand dollars surplus, there was still no
school building which the City could call its own. New trustees
— Manuel Requena, Francis Melius and W. T. B. Sanford —
were elected; and then happened what, perhaps, has not oc-
curred here since, or ever in any other California town : Foster,
still Mayor, was also chosen School Superintendent. The
new energy put into the movement now led the Board to build,
late in 1854 or early in 1855, a two-story brick schoolhouse,
known as School No. i , on the northwest corner of Spring and
Second streets, on the lot later occupied, first by the old City
Hall and secondly by the Bryson Block. This structure cost
six thousand dollars. Strange as it now seems, the location
was then rather "out in the country;" and I dare say the
io6 Sixty Years in Southern California [1853-
selection was made, in part, to get the youngsters away from
the residential district around the Plaza. There school was
opened on March 19th, 1855; William A. Wallace, a botanist
who had been sent here to study the flora, having charge of the
boys' department and Miss Louisa Hayes directing the division
for girls. Among her pupils were Sarah Newmark and her
sisters; Mary Wheeler, who married WUliam Pridham; and
Lucinda Macy, afterward Mrs. Foy, who recalls participating
in the first public school examination, in June, 1856. Dr.
John S. Griffin, on June 7th, 1856, was elected Superintendent.
Having thus established a public school, the City Cotmcil
voted to discontinue all subsidies to private schools.
One of the early school-teachers was the pioneer, James F.
Burns. Coming with an emigrant train in 1853, Burns arrived
in Los Angeles, after some adventures with the Indians near
what was later the scene of the Mountain Meadow Massacre,
in November of the same year. Having been trained in Kala-
mazoo, Michigan, as a teacher, Burns settled, in 1854, i'^ San
Gabriel; and there with Csesar C. Twitchell, he conducted
a cross-roads school in a tent. Later, while still living at
San Gabriel, Biurns was elected County School Superintend-
ent. Before reaching here — that is, at Provo, Utah, on
September 25th — the young schoolmaster had married Miss
Lucretia Burdick, aunt of Fred Eaton's first wife. Burns,
though of small stature, became one of the fighting sheriffs of
the County.
Among others who conducted schools in Los Angeles or
vicinity, in the early days, were Mrs. Adam Bland, wife of the
missionary ; H. D. Barrows and the Hoyts. Mrs. Bland taught
ten or twelve poor girls, in 1853, for which the Common Council
allowed her about thirty-five dollars. Barrows was one of
several teachers employed by William Wolfskill at various
times, and at Wolfskill's school not merely were his own
children instructed but those of the neighboring families of
Carpenter, Rowland and Pleasants as well. Mrs. Gertrude
Lawrence Hoyt was an Episcopal clergyman's wife from New
York who, being made a widow, followed her son, Albert H.
i8s4] Round About the Plaza 107
Hoyt, to Los Angeles in 1853. Young Hoyt, a graduate of
Rutgers College and a teacher excited by the gold fever,
joined a hundred and twenty men who chartered the bark
Clarissa Perkins to come around the Horn, in 1849; but failing
as a miner, he began farming near Sacramento. When Mrs.
Hoyt came to Los Angeles, she conducted a private school in a
rented building north of the Plaza, beginning in 1854 ^^^
continuing until 1856; while her son moved south and took up
seventy or eighty acres of land in the San Gabriel Valley, near
El Monte. In 1855, young Hoyt came into town to assist his
mother in the school; and the following year Mrs. Hoyt's
daughter, Mary, journeyed West and also became a teacher here.
Later, Miss Hoyt kept a school on Alameda Street near the
site of the Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad depot. Mrs.
Hoyt died in Los Angeles in 1863. Other early teachers were
William McKee, Mrs. Thomas Foster and Miss Anna Mc-
Arthur.
As undeveloped as the pueblo was, Los Angeles boasted, in
her very infancy, a number of physicians, although there were
few, if any, Spanish or Mexican practitioners. In 1850, Drs.
William B. Osburn, W. W. Jones, A. W. Hope, A. P. Hodges
and a Dr. Overstreet were here; while in 1851, Drs. Thomas
Foster, John Brinckerhoff and James P. McFarland followed,
to be reenforced, in 1852, by Dr. James B. Winston and, soon
after, by Drs. R. T. Hayes, T. J. White and A. B. Hayward.
Dr. John Strother Griffin (General Albert Sidney Johnston's
brother-in-law and the accepted suitor of Miss Louisa Hayes)
came to Los Angeles in 1848, or rather to San Gabriel — where,
according to Hugo Reid, no physician had settled, though the
population took drugs by the barrel ; being the ranking surgeon
under Kearney and Stockton when, on January 8th, they drove
back the Mexican forces. He was also one of the hosts to young
W. T. Sherman. Not until 1854, however, after Griffin had
returned to Washington and had resigned his commission, did he
actually settle in Los Angeles. Thereafter, his participation in
local affairs was such that, very properly, one of our avenues
is named after him. Dr. Richard S. Den antedated all of these
io8 Sixty Years in Southern California [1853-
gentlemen, having resided and practiced medicine in Los
Angeles in 1843, 1844 and again in the early fifties, though he
did not dwell in this city permanently until January, 1866.
Den I knew fairly well, and Griffin was my esteemed physician
and friend. Foster and Griffin were practitioners whom I best
recall as being here during my first years, one or two others, as
Dr. Osburn and Dr. Winston, having already begun to devote
their time to other enterprises.
Dr. Richard S. Den, an Irishman of culture and refinement,
having been for awhile with his brother, Nicholas Den, in
Santa Barbara, returned to Los Angeles in 185 1. I say, "re-
turned," because Den had looked in on the little pueblo before
I had even heard its name. While in the former place, in the
winter of 1843-44, Den received a call from Los Angeles to
perform one or two surgical operations, and here he practiced
until drawn to the mines by the gold excitement. He served,
in 1846-47, as Chief Physician and Surgeon of the Mexican
forces during the Mexican War, and treated, among others, the
famous American Consul Larkin, whose surety he became when
Larkin was removed to better quarters in the home of Louis
Vignes. Den had only indifferent luck as a miner, but was soon
in such demand to relieve the sufferers from malaria that it is
said he received as much as a thousand dollars in a day for
his practice. In 1854, he returned to Santa Barbara County,
remaining there for several years and suffering great loss, on
account of the drought and its effects on his cattle. Nicholas
Den, who was also known in Los Angeles, and was esteemed for
both his integrity and his hospitality, died at Santa Barbara in
1862.
Old Dr. Den will be remembered, not only with esteem, but
with affection. He was seldom seen except on horseback, in
which fashion he visited his patients, and was, all in all, some-
what a man of mystery. He rode a magnificent coal-black
charger, and was himself always dressed in black. He wore,
too, a black felt hat; and beneath the hat there clustered a
mass of wavy hair as white as snow. In addition to all
this, his standing collar was so high that he was compelled
1854] Round About the Plaza 109
to hold his head erect ; and as if to offset the immactilate linen,
he tied around the collar a large black-silk scarf. Thus attired
and seated on his richly -caparisoned horse, Dr. Den appeared
always dignified, and even imposing. One may therefore
easily picture him a friendly rival with Don Juan Bandini at
the early Spanish balls, as he was on intimate terms with
Don and Dona Abel Stearns, acknowledged social leaders. Dr.
Den was fond of horse-racing and had his own favorite race-
horses sent here from Santa Barbara, where they were bred.
Dr. Osburn, the Postmaster of 1853, had two years before
installed a small variety of drugs on a few shelves, referred to
by the complimentary term of drug store. Dr. Winston also
kept a stock of drugs. About the same time, and before Dr.
A. W. Hope opened the third drug store in September, 1854,
John Gately Downey, an Irishman by birth, who had been
apprenticed to the drug trade in Maryland and Ohio, formed
a partnership with James P. McFarland, a native of Tennessee,
buying some of Winston's stock. Their store was a long, one-
story adobe on the northwest corner of Los Angeles and Com-
mercial streets, and was known as McFarland & Downey's.
The former had been a gold-miner ; and this experience intensi-
fied the impression of an already rugged physique as a frontier
type. Entering politics, as Osburn and practically every other
professional man then did — doubtless as much as anything
else for the assiu-ance of some definite income — McFarland
secured a seat in the Assembly in 1852, and in the Senate in
1853-54. About 1858, he returned to Tennessee and in
December, i860, revisited California; after which he settled
permanently in the East. Downey, in 1859, having been
elected Lieutenant-Governor, was later made Governor,
through the election of Latham to the United States Senate;
but his suddenly-revealed sympathies with the Secessionists,
together with his advocacy of a bill for the apprenticing of
Indians, contributed toward killing him politically and he
retired to private life. Dr. H. R. Myles, destined to meet with
a tragic death in a steamboat disaster which I shall narrate,
was another druggist, with a partner, Dr. J. C. Welch, a South
no Sixty Years in Southern California [1853-
Carolinian dentist who came here in the early fifties and died
in August, 1869. Their drug store on Main Street, nearly-
opposite the Bella Union, filled the prescriptions of the city's
seven or eight doctors. Considerably later, but still among the
pioneer druggists, was Dr. V. Gelcich, who came here as Surgeon
to the Fourth California Infantry.
Speaking of druggists, it may be interesting to add that
medicines were administered in earlier days to a much greater
extent than now. For every little ailment there was a pill, a
powder or some other nostrum. The early botica, or drug
store, kept only drugs and things incidental to the drug business.
There was also more of home treatment than now. Every
mother did more or less doctoring on her own account, and had
her well-stocked medicine-chest. Castor oil, ipecac, black
draught and calomel were generally among the domestic supply.
The practice of surgery was also very primitive ; and he was
unfortunate, indeed, who required such service. Operations
had to be performed at home; there were few or none of the
modern scientific appliances or devices for either rendering the
patient immune or contending with active disease.
Preceded by a brother, Colonel James C. Foy — who visited
California in 1850 and was killed in 1864, while in Sherman's
army, by the bursting of a shell — Samuel C. Foy started for San
Francisco, by way of New Orleans and the Isthmus, when he was
but twenty-two years old and, allured by the gold-fever,
wasted a year or two in the mines. In January, 1854, he made
his way south to Los Angeles ; and seeing the prospect for trade
in harness, on February 19th of that year opened an American
saddlery, in which business he was joined by his brother, John
M. Foy. Their store was on Main Street, between Commercial
and Requena. The location was one of the best ; and the Foy
Brothers offering, besides saddlery, such necessities of the
times as tents, enjoyed one of the first chances to sell .to passing
emigrants and neighboring rancheros, as they came into town.
Some spurs, exhibited in the County Museum, are a souvenir
of Foy's enterprise in those pioneer days. In May, 1856, Sam
Foy began operating in cattle and continued in that business
i8s4] Round About the Plaza iii
until 1865, periodically taking herds north and leaving his
brother in charge of the store.
In the course of time, the Foys moved to Los Angeles Street,
becoming my neighbors; and while there, in 1882, S. C. Foy, in
a quaint advertisement embellished with a blanketed horse,
announced his establishment as the "oldest business house in
Los Angeles, still at the old stand, 17 Los Angeles Street, next
to H. Newmark & Company's." John Foy, who later removed
to San Bernardino, died many years ago, and Sam Foy also has
long since joined the silent majority ; but one of the old signs of
the saddlery is still to be seen on Los Angeles Street, where
the son, James Calvert Foy, conducts the business. The Foys
first lived on Los Angeles Street, and then on Main. Some
years later, they moved to the corner of Seventh and Pearl
streets, now called Figueroa, and came to control much val-
uable land there, still in possession of the family. A daughter
of Samuel C. Foy is Miss Mary Foy, formerly a teacher and
later Public Librarian. Another daughter married Thomas
Lee Woolwine, the attorney.
Wells Fargo & Company — formerly always styled Wells,
Fargo & Company — were early in the field here. On March
28th, 1854, they were advertising, through H. R. Myles, their
agent, that they were a joint stock company with a capital
of five hundred thousand dollars !
M^
CHAPTER IX
FAMILIAR HOME-SCENES
1854
ANY of the houses, as I have related, were clustered
around and north of the Plaza Chvirch, while the hills
surrounding the pueblo to the West were almost bare.
These same hills have since been subdivided and graded to
accommodate the Westlake, the Wilshire, the West Temple
and other sections. Main and Spring streets were laid out
beyond First, but they were very sparsely settled; while to the
East of Main and extending up to that street, there were many
large vineyards without a single break as far south as the
Ninth Street of to-day, unless we except a narrow and short
lane there. To enable the reader to form an accurate impression
of the time spent in getting to a nearby point, I will add that, to
reach William Wolfskin's home, which was in the neighborhood
of the present Arcade Depot, one was obliged to travel down
to Aliso Street, thence to Alameda, and then south on Alameda
to Wolfskin's orchard. From Spring Street, west and as far
as the coast, there was one huge field, practically unimproved
and undeveloped, the swamp lands of which were covered with
tules. All of this land, from the heart of the present retail
district to the city limits, belonged to the municipality. I
incline to the opinion that both Ord and Hancock had
already surveyed in this southwestern district; but through
there, nevertheless, no single street had as yet been cut.
Not merely at the Plaza, but throughout Los Angeles, most
112
Jacob Rich
J. P. Newmark
From a vignette of the sixties
O. W. Childs
John O. Wheeler
Benjamin D. Wilson
George Hansen
Dr. Obed Macy
Samuel C. Foy
[i8s4] Familiar Home-Scenes 113
of the houses were built of adobe, or mud mixed with straw and
dried for months in the sun ; and several fine dwellings of this
kind were constructed after I came. The composition was
of such a nature that, unless protected by roofs and verandas, '
the mud would slowly wash away. The walls, however, also re-
quiring months in which to dry, were generally three or four
feet thick; and to this as well as to the nature of the material
may be attributed the fact that the houses in the summer
season were cool and comfortable, while in winter they were
warm and cheerful. They were usually rectangular in shape,
and were invariably provided with patios and corridors. There
was no such thing as a basement under a house, and floors were
frequently earthen. Conventionality prescribed no limit as to
the number of rooms, an adobe frequently having a sitting-
room, a dining-room, a kitchen and as many bedrooms as were
required; but there were few, if any, "frills" for the mere sake
of style. Most adobes were but one story in height, although
there were a few two-story houses ; and it is my recollection that,
in such cases, the second story was reached from the outside.
Everything about an adobe was emblematic of hospitality:
the doors, heavy and often apparently home-made, were
wide, and the windows were deep. In private houses, the
doors were locked with a key; but in some of the stores, they
were fastened with a bolt fitted into iron receptacles on either
side. The windows, swinging on hinges, opened inward and
were locked in the center. There were few curtains or blinds;
wooden shutters, an inch thick, also fastening in the center,
being generally used instead. If there were such conveniences
as hearths and fireplaces, I cannot recollect them, although I
think that here and there the brasero, or pan and hot coals, was
still employed. There were no chimneys, and the smoke, as
from the kitchen stove, escaped through the regular stacks
leading out through a pane in the window or a hole in the wall.
The porches, also spoken of as verandas and rather wide,
were supported by equidistant perpendicular posts ; and when
' Verandas, spoken of locally as corridors; from which fact I may use both
tenns interchangeably.
114 Sixty Years in Southern California [1854
an adobe had two stories, the veranda was also double-storied.
Few if any vines grew around these verandas in early days,
largely because of the high cost of water. For the same reason,
there were almost no gardens.
The roofs which, as I have intimated, proved as necessary
to preserve the adobe as to afford protection from the semi-
tropical sun, were generally covered with asphalt and were
usually fiat in order to keep the tar from running off. As well
as I can recollect, Vicente Salsido — or Salcito, as his name
was also written — who lived in or somewhere near Nigger
Alley, was the only man then engaged in the business of
mending pitch-roofs. When winter approached and the
first rainfall produced leaks, there was a general demand
for Salsido's services and a great scramble among owners
of buildings to obtain them. Such was the need, in fact,
that more than one family, drowned out while waiting, was
compelled to move to the drier quarters of relatives or
friends, there to stay until the roofer could attend to their
own houses. Under a huge kettle, put up in the public
street, Salsido set fire to some wood, threw in his pitch and
melted it. Then, after he or a helper had climbed onto the
roof, the molten pitch was hauled up in buckets and poiu-ed
over the troublesome leaks. Much of this tar was im-
ported from the North, but some was obtained in this locality,
particularly frpm so-called springs on the Hancock ranch, which
for a long time have fiurnished great quantities of the useful, if
unattractive, substance. This asphalt was later used for side-
walks, and even into the eighties was employed as fuel. To
return to Salsido, I might add that in summer the pitch-roofer
had no work at all.
Besides the adobes with their asphalt roofs, some houses,
erected within the first quarter of the Nineteenth Century,
were covered with tiles. The most notable tiled building was
the old Church, whose roof was unfortunately removed when
the edifice was so extensively renovated. The Carrillo home
was topped with these ancient tiles, as were also Jose Maria
Abila's residence ; Vicente Sanchez's two-story adobe south of
1854I Familiar Home-Scenes 115
the Plaza, and the Alvarado house on First Street, between
Main and Los Angeles streets.
It was my impression that there were no bricks in Los
Angeles when I first came, although about 1854 °^ 1^55 Jacob
Weixel had the first regular brickyard. In conversation with
old-timers, however, many years ago, I was assured that Cap-
tain Jesse Hunter, whom I recall, had built a kiln not far from
the later site of the Potomac Block, on Fort Street, between
Second and Third; and that, as early as 1853, he had put up a
brick building on the west side of Main Street, about one
hundred and fifty feet south of the present site of the Bullard
Block. This was for Mayor Nichols, who paid Hunter thirty
dollars a thousand for the new and more attractive kind of
building material. This pioneer brick building has long since
disappeared. Hunter seems to have come to Los Angeles
alone, and to have been follpwed across the plains by his wife,
two sons and three daughters, taking up his permanent resi-
dence here in 1856. One of the daughters married a man
named Burke, who conducted a blacksmith and wagon shop
in Hunter's Building on Main Street. Hunter died in 1874.
Dr. William A. Hammel, father of SherifJ William Hammel,
who came to California during the gold excitement of '49, had
one of the first red brick houses in Los Angeles, on San Pedro
Street, between Second and Third.
Sometime in 1853, or perhaps in 1854, the first building
erected by the public in Los Angeles County was put together
here of brick baked in the second kiln ever fired in the city.
It was the Town Jail on the site of the present Phillips Block, '
at the northwest corner of Spring and Franklin streets. This
building took the place of the first County Jail, a rude adobe
that stood on the hill back of the present National Government
Building. In that jail, I have understood, there were no cells,
and prisoners were fastened by chains to logs outside.
Zanja water was being used for irrigation when I arrived.
A system of seven or eight zanjas, or open ditches — originated, I
have no doubt, by the Catholic Fathers — was then in operation,
■ Recently razed.
ii6 Sixty Years in Southern California [1854
although it was not placed under the supervision of a Zanjero,
or Water Commissioner, until 1854. These small surface canals
connected at the source with the zanja madre, or mother ditch,
on the north side of the town, from which they received their
supply; the zanja madre itself being fed from the river, at a
point a long way from town. The Zanjero issued permits, for
which application had to be made some days in advance,
authorizing the use of the water for irrigation purposes. A
certain amount was paid for the use of this water during
a period of twelve hours, without any limit as to the quantity
consumed, and the purchaser was permitted to draw his supply
both day and night.
Water for domestic uses was a still more expensive luxury.
Inhabitants living in the immediate neighborhood of zanjas, or
near the river, helped themselves; but their less-fortunate
brethren were served by a carrier,, who charged fifty cents a
week for one bucket a day, while he did not deliver on Sunday
at all. Extra requirements were met on the .same basis ; and
in order to avoid an interruption in the supply, prompt settle-
ment of the charge had to be made every Saturday evening.
This character was known as Bill the Waterman. He was a tall
American, about thirty or thirty-five years old; he had a mus-
tache, wore long, rubber boots coming nearly to his waist, and
presented the general appearance of a laboring man; and his
somewhat rickety vehicle, drawn by two superannuated
horses, slowly conveyed the man and his barrel of about sixty
gallons capacity from house to house. He was a wise dispenser,
and quite alert to each household's needs.
Bill obtained his supply from the Los Angeles River, where
at best it was none too clean, in part owing to the frequent
passage of the river by man and beast. Animals of all kinds,
including cattle, horses, sheep, pigs, mules and donkeys,
crossed and recrossed the stream continually, so that the mud
was incessantly stirred up, and the polluted product proved
unpalatable and even, undoubtedly, unhealthful. To make
matters worse, the river and the zanjas were the favorite
bathing-places, all the urchins of the hamlet disporting them-
1854] Familiar Home-Scenes 117
selves there daily, while most of the adults, also, frequently-
immersed themselves. Both the yet unbridged stream and
the zanjas, therefore, were repeatedly contaminated, although
common sense should have protected the former to a greater or
less extent ; while as to the latter there were ordinances drawn
up by the Common Council of 1850 which prohibited the
throwing of filth into fresh water designed for common use,
and also forbade the washing of clothes on the zanja banks.
This latter regulation was disobeyed by the native women,
who continued to gather there, dip their soiled garments in
the water, place them on stones and beat them with sticks, a
method then popular for the extraction of dirt.
Besides Bill the Waterman, Dan Schieck was a water-ven-
der, but at a somewhat later date. Proceeding to the zanja
in a curious old cart, he would draw the water he needed, fresh
every morning, and make daily deliveries at customers' houses
for a couple of dollars a month. Schieck forsook this business,
however, and went into draying, making a specialty of meeting
Banning's coaches and transferring the passengers to their
several destinations. He was a frugal man, and accumulated
enough to buy the southwest corner of Franklin and Spring
streets. As a result, he left property of considerable value.
He died about twenty-five years ago; Mrs. Schieck, who was a
sister of John Frohling, died in 1874.
Just one more reference to the drinking-water of that
period. When delivered to the customer, it was emptied into
ollas, or urn-shaped vessels, made from burned clay or terra
cotta. Every family and every store was provided with at
least one of these containers which, being slightly porous, pos-
sessed the virtue (of particular value at a time when there was
no ice) of keeping the water cool and refreshing. The olla com-
monly in use had a capacity of four or five gallons, and was
usually suspended from the ceiling of a porch or other con-
venient place; while attached to this domestic reservoir, as a
rule, was a long-handled dipper generally made from a gourd.
Filters were not in use, in consequence of which fastidious
people washed out their ollas very frequently. These wide-
ii8 Sixty Years in Southern California Ii8s4
mouthed pots recall to me an appetizing Spanish dish, known
as oUa-podrida, a stew consisting of various spiced meats,
chopped fine, and an equally varied assortment of vegetables,
partaken of separately; all bringing to mind, perhaps,
Thackeray's sentimental Ballad of Bouillabaisse. Considering
these inconveniences, how surprising it is that the Common
Council, in 1853, should have frowned upon Judge William
G. Dryden's proposition to distribute, in pipes, all the water
needed for domestic use.
On May i6th, 1854, the first Masonic lodge — then and now
known as 42 — received its charter, having worked under
special dispensation since the preceding December. The first
officers chosen were: H. P. Dorsey, Master; J. Elias, Senior
Warden; Thomas Foster, Junior Warden; James R. Barton,
Treasurer; Timothy Foster, Secretary; Jacob Rich, Senior
Deacon ; and W. A. Smith, Tyler.
For about three decades after my arrival, smallpox epi-
demics visited us somewhat regularly every other year, and the
effect on the town was exceedingly bad. The whole population
was on such a friendly footing that every death made a very
great impression. The native element was always averse to
vaccination and other sanitary measures; everybody objected
to isolation, and disinfecting was unknown. In more than one
familiar case, the surviving members of a stricken family went
into the homes of their kinsmen, notwithstanding the danger
of contagion. Is it any wonder, therefore, when such ignorance
was universal, that the pest spread alarmingly and that the
death-rate was high?
The smallpox wagon, dubbed the Black Maria, was a
frequent sight on the streets of Los Angeles during these
sieges. There was an isolated pesthouse near the Chavez Ra-
vine, but the patients of the better class were always treated
at home, where the sanitation was never good ; and at best the
community was seriously exposed. Consternation seized the
public mind, communication with the outside world was dis-
turbed, and these epidemics were the invariable signal for
business disorder and crises.
i8s4] Familiar Home-Scenes 119
This matter of primitive sanitation reminds me of an expe-
rience. To accommodate an old iron bath-tub that I wished
to set up in my Main Street home in the late sixties, I was
obliged to select one of the bedrooms; since, when my adobe
was built, the idea of having a separate bathroom in a house
had never occurred to any owner. I connected it with the
zanja at the rear of my lot by means of a wooden conduit ; which,
although it did not join very closely, answered all purposes for
the discharge of waste water. One of my children for several
years slept in this combination bath- and bedroom ; and although
the plumbing was as old-fashioned as it well could be, yet during
all that time there was no sickness in our family.
It was fortunate indeed that the adobe construction of the
fifties rendered houses practically fireproof since, in the absence
of a water-system, a bucket-brigade was all there was to fight
a fire with, and this rendered but poor service. I remember
such a brigade at work, some years after I came, in the vicinity
of the Bell Block, when a chain of helpers formed a relay
from the nearest zanja to the blazing structure. Buckets were
passed briskly along, from person to person, as in the animated
scene described by Schiller in the well-known lines of Das Lied
von der Glocke :
Durch der Hdnde lange Kette
Um die Wette
Fliegt der Eimer;^
a process which was continued until the fire had exhausted
itself. Francis Melius had a little hand-cart, but for lack of
water it was generally useless. Instead of fire-bells announcing
to the people that a conflagration was in progress, the discharg-
ing of pistols in rapid succession gave the alarm and was the
signal for a general fusillade throughout the neighboring streets.
Indeed, this method of sounding a fire-alarm was used as late
' Translated by Perry Worden for the centenary of The Song of the Bell :
Through each hand close-joined and waiting,
Emulating,
Flies the pail.
I20 Sixty Years in Southern California [1854
as the eighties. On the breaking out of fires, neighbors and
friends rushed to assist the victim in saving what they could
of his property.
On account of the inadequate facihties for extinguishing
anything Hke a conflagration, it transpired that insurance
companies would not for some time accept risks in Los Angeles.
If I am not mistaken, S. Lazard obtained the first protection
late in the fifties and paid a premium of four per cent. The
policy was issued by the Hamburg-Bremen Company, through
Adelsdorfer Brothers of San Francisco, who also imported
foreign merchandise; and Lazard, thereafter, as the Los Angeles
agent for the Hamburg-Bremen Company, was the first
insurance underwriter here of whom I have any knowledge.
Adelsdorfer Brothers, it is also interesting to note, imported
the first Swedish matches brought into California, perhaps hav-
ing in mind cause and effect with profit at both ends; they
put them on the retail market in Los Angeles at twenty-five
cents a package.
This matter of fires calls to mind an interesting feature of
the city when I first saw it. When Henry, or Enrique Dalton
sailed from England, he shipped a couple of corrugated iron
buildings, taking them to South America where he used them
for several years. On coming to Los Angeles, he brought
the buildings with him, and they were set up at the site of
the present corner of Spring and Court streets. In a sense,
therefore, these much-transported iron structures (one of which,
in 1858, I rented as a storeroom for wool) came to be among
the earliest "fire-proof" buildings here.
As early as 1854, the need of better communication between
Los Angeles and the outside world was beginning to be felt ;
and in the summer of that year the Supervisors — D. W.
Alexander, S. C. Foster, J. Sepulveda, C. Aguilar and S. S.
Thompson — voted to spend one thousand dollars to open a
wagon road over the mountains between the San Fernando
Mission and the San Francisco rancho. A rather broad trail
already existed there; but such was its grade that many a
pioneer, compelled to use a windlass or other contrivance to let
i8s4] Familiar Home-Scenes 121
down his wagon in safety, will never forget the real perils of the
descent. For years it was a familiar experience with stages, on
which I sometimes traveled, to attach chains or boards to retard
their downward movement ; nor were passengers even then with-
out anxiety until the hill- or mountain-side had been passed.
During 1854, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Newmark and family,
whom I had met, the year before, for a few hours in San Fran-
cisco, arrived here and located in the one-story adobe owned
by John Goller and adjoining his blacksmith shop. There were
six children — Matilda, Myer J., Sarah, Edward, Caroline and
Harriet — all of whom had been born in New York City. With
their advent, my personal environment immediately changed:
they provided me with a congenial home ; and as they at once
began to take part in local social activities, I soon became well
acquainted. My aunt took charge of my English education,
and taught me to spell, read and write in that language; and I
have always held her efforts in my behalf in grateful apprecia-
tion. As a matter of fact, having so early been thrown into
contact with Spanish-speaking neighbors and patrons, I learned
Spanish before I acquired English.
The Newmarks had left New York on December 15th, 1852,
on the ship Carrington, T. B. French commanding, to make the
trip around the Horn, San Francisco being their destination.
After a voyage for the most part pleasant, although not alto-
gether free from disagreeable features and marked by much
rough weather, they reached the Golden Gate, having been
four months and five days on the ocean. One of the enjoy-
able incidents en route was an old-fashioned celebration in which
Neptune took part when they crossed the equator. In a diary
of that voyage kept by Myer J. Newmark, mention is made
that "our Democratic President, Franklin Pierce, and Vice-
President, William R. King, were inaugurated March 4th, 1853 ;"
which reminds me that some forty years later Judge H. A.
Pierce, the President's cousin, and his wife who was of literary
proclivities, came to be my neighbors in Los Angeles. Mr.
and Mrs. Newmark and their family remained in San Francisco
until 1854.
122 Sixty Years in Southern California [1854
Joseph Newmark, formerly Neumark, born June 15th, 1799,
was, I assume, the first to adopt the English form of the name.
He was genuinely religious and exalted in character. His wife,
Rosa, whom he married in New York in 1835, was born in
London on March 17th, 1808. He came to America in 1824,
spent a few years in New York, and resided for a while in Somer-
set, Connecticut, where, on January 21st, 1831, he joined the
Masonic fraternity. During his first residence in New York, he
started the Elm Street Synagogue, one of the earliest in America.
In 1840, we find him in St. Louis, a pioneer indeed. Five years
later he was in Dubuque, Iowa, then a frontier village. In 1 846,
he once more pitched his tent in New York; and during this
sojourn he organized the Wooster Street Congregation. Im-
mediately after reaching Los Angeles, he brought into
existence the Los Angeles Hebrew Benevolent Society, which
met for some time at his home on Sunday evenings, and which,
I think, was the first charitable institution in this city. Its
principal objects were to care for the sick, to pay proper re-
spect, according to Jewish ritual, to the dead, and to look after
the Jewish Cemetery which was laid out about that time; so
that the Society at once became a real spiritual force and
continued so for several years. The first President was Jacob
Elias. Although Mr. Newmark had never served, as a salaried
Rabbi, he had been ordained and was permitted to officiate;
and one of the immediate results of his influence was the es-
tablishment of worship on Jewish holidays, under the auspices
of the Society named. The first service was held in the rear
room of an adobe owned by John Temple. Joseph Newmark
also inspired the purchase of land for the Jewish Cemetery.
After Rabbi Edelman came, my uncle continued on various
occasions to assist him. When, in course of time, the popula-
tion of Los Angeles increased, the responsibilities of the He-
brew Benevolent Society were extended. Although a Jewish
organization, and none but Jews could become members of it
or receive burial in the Jewish Cemetery, its aim was to give
relief, as long as its financial condition would permit, to every
worthy person that appeared, whoever he was or whatever his
i8s4] Familiar Home-Scenes 123
creed. Recalling this efficient organization, I may say that I
believe myself to be one of but two stirvivors among the char-
ter members — S. Lazard being the other.
Kiln Messer was another pioneer who came around the
Horn about that time, although he arrived here from Germany
a year later than I did; and during his voyage, he had a trying
experience in a shipwreck off Cape Verde where, with his com-
rades, he had to wait a couple of months before another vessel
could be signaled. Even then he could get no farther toward
his destination — the Golden Gate — than Rio de Janeiro, where
he was delayed five or six months more. Finally reaching San
Francisco, he took to mining; but, weakened by fever (an
experience common among the gold-seekers) , he made his way
to Los Angeles. After brewing beer for a while at the corner of
Third and Main streets, Messer bought a twenty-acre vineyard
which, in 1857, he increased by another purchase to forty-five
or fifty acres; and it was his good fortune that this property
was so located as to be needed by the Santa Fe Railroad, in
1888, as a terminal. Toward the end of the seventies, Messer,
moderately well-to-do, was a grocer at the corner of Rose and
First streets; and about 1885, he retired.
Joseph Newmark brought with him to Los Angeles a
Chinese servant, to whom he paid one hundred dollars a month;
and, as far as I know, this Mongolian was the first to come to
our city. This domestic item has additional interest, perhaps,
because it was but five or six years before that the first Chi-
nese to emigrate from the Celestial Kingdom to California
— two men and a lone woman — had come to San Francisco
in thfe ship Eagle from Hong Kong. A year later, there were
half a hundred Chinamen in the territory, while at the end of
still another year, during the gold excitement, nearly a thousand
Chinese entered the Golden Gate.
The housekeeping experiences of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph
Newmark remind me that it was not easy in the early days to
get satisfactory domestic service. Indians, negroes and some-
times Mexicans were employed, until the arrival of more
Chinese and the coming of white girls. Joseph Newmark,
124 Sixty Years in Southern California [1854
when I lived with his family, employed, in addition to the
Chinaman, an Indian named Pedro who had come with his
wife from Temecula and whose remuneration was fifty cents a
day; and these servants attended to most of the household
duties. The annual fiesta at Temecula used to attract Pedro
and his better-half ; and while they were absent, the Newmark
girls did the work.
My new home was very congenial, not the least of its attrac-
tions being the family associations at meal-time. The oppor-
tunities for obtaining a variety of food were not as good
perhaps as they are to-day, and yet some delicacies were more
in evidence. Among these I might mention wild game and
chickens. Turkeys, of all poultry, were the scarcest and most-
prized. All in all, our ordinary fare has not changed so much
except dn the use of mutton, certain vegetables, ice and a
few dainties.
There was no extravagance in the furnishing of pioneer
homes. Few people coming to Los Angeles expected to locate
permanently ; they usually planned to accumulate a small com-
petency and then return to their native heaths. In conse-
quence, little attention was paid to quality or styles, and it is
hard to convey a comprehensive idea of the prevailing lack of
ordinary comforts. For many years the inner walls of adobes
were whitewashed — a method of mural finish not the most
agreeable, since the coating so easily "came off;" and only in
the later periods of frame houses, did we have kalsomined and
hard-finished wall surfaces. Just when papered and tinted
walls came in, I do not remember; but they were long delayed.
Furniture was plain and none too plentiful; and glassware
and tableware were of an inferior grade.
Certain vegetables were abundant, truck-gardening having
been introduced here in the early fifties by Andrew Briswalter , an
Alsatian by birth and an original character. He first operated
on San Pedro Street, where he rented a tract of land and
peddled his vegetables in a wheelbarrow, charging big prices.
So quickly did he prosper that he was soon able to buy a piece
of land, as well as a horse and wagon. When he died, in the
i8s4l Familiar Home-Scenes 125
eighties, he bequeathed a large estate, consisting of City and
County acreage and lots, in the disposition of which he un-
righteously cut off his only niece. Playa del Rey was later
built on some of this land. Acres of fruit trees, fronting
on Main, in the neighborhood of the present Ninth and
Tenth streets, and extending far in an easterly direction,
formed another part of his holding. It was on this land that
Briswalter lived until his last illness. He bought this tract
from O. W. Childs, it having originally belonged to H. C.
Cardwell, a son-in-law of William Wolfskill — the same Card-
well who introduced here, on January 7th, 1856, the heretofore
unknown seedling strawberries.
One Mumus was in the field nearly as soon as Briswalter.
A few years later, Chinese vegetable men came to monopolize
this trade. Most of their gardens neighbored on what is now
Figueroa Street, north of Pico; and then, as now, they peddled
their wares from wagons. Wild celery grew in quantities
around the zanjas, but was not much liked. Cultivated celery,
on the other hand, was in demand and was brought from the
North, whence we also imported most of our cabbage, cauli-
flower and asparagus. But after a while, the Chirtese also culti-
vated celery; and when, in the nineties, E. A. Curtis, D. E.
Smeltzer and others failed in an effort to grow celery, Curtis
fell back on the Chinese gardeners. The Orientals, though
pestered by envious workmen, finally made a success of the
industry, helping to establish what is now a most important
local agricultural activity.
These Chinese vegetable gardeners, by the way, came to
practice a trick' designed to reduce their expenses, and at
which they were sometimes caught. Having bargained with
the authorities for a small quantity of water, they would cut
the zanjas, while the Zanjero or his assistants slept, steal the
additional water needed, and, before the arrival of the Zanjero
at daybreak, close the openings!
' History repeats itself: in 1915, ranchers at Zelzah were accused of appro-
priating water from the new aqueduct, under cover of the night, without paying
for it.
126 Sixty Years in Southern California [i8s4
J. Wesley Potts was an early arrival, having tramped across
the Plains all the way from Texas, in 1852, reaching Los Angeles
in September. At first, he could obtain nothing to do but haul
dirt in a hand-cart for the spasmodic patching-up of the streets ;
but when he had earned five or six dollars in that way, he took
to peddling fruit, first carrying it around in a basket. Then
he had a fruit stand. Getting the gold-fever, however. Potts
went to the mines ; but despairing at last of realizing anything
there, he returned to Los Angeles and raised vegetables, in-
troducing, among other things, the first locally-grown sweet
potatoes put on the market — a stroke of enterprise recalling
J. E. Pleasants's early venture in cultivating garden pease.
Later he was widely known as a "weather prophet" — with
predictions quite as likely to be worthless as to come true.
The prickly pear, the fruit of the cactus, was common in
early Los Angeles. It grew in profusion all over this Southern
country, but particularly so around San Gabriel at which place
it was found in almost obstructing quantities; and prickly
pears bordered the gardens of the Round House where they were
plucked by visitors. Ugly enough things to handle, they were,
nevertheless, full of juice, and proved refreshing and palatable
when properly peeled. Pomegranates and quinces were also
numerous, but they were not cultivated for the trade. Syca-
more and oak trees were seen here and there, while the willow
was evident in almost jungle prof useness, especially around river
banks and along the borders of lanes. Wild mustard charmingly
variegated the landscape and chaparral obscured many of the
hills and rising ground. In winter, the ground was thickly
covered with biirr-clover and the poetically-named alfilaria.
Writing of vegetables and fruit, I naturally think of one of
California's most popular products, the sandia or watermelon,
and of its plenteousness in those more monotonous days when
many and many a carreta load was brought to the indulging
town. The melons were sold direct from the vehicles, as well as
in stores, and the street seemed to be the principal place for the
consumption of the luscious fruit. It was a very common sight
to see Indians and others sitting along the roads, their faces
1854] Familiar Home-Scenes 127
buried in the green-pink depths. Some old-timers troubled
with diseases of the kidney, believing that there was virtue in
watermelon seeds, boiled them and used the tea medicinally.
Fish, caught at San Pedro and peddled around town, was a
favorite item of food during the cooler months of the year.
The pescadero, or vender, used a loud fish horn, whose deep
but not melodious tones announced to the expectant house-
wife that he was at hand with a load of sea-food. Owing to
the poorer facilities for catching them, only a few varieties of
deep-water fish, such as barracuda, yellowtail and rockfish
were sold.
Somewhere I have seen it stated that, in 1854, 0. W. Childs
brought the first hive of bees from San Francisco at a cost of
one hundred and fifty dollars; but as nearly as I can recollect,
a man named Logan owned the first beehives and was, there-
fore, the pioneer honey-producer. I remember paying him
three dollars for a three-pound box of comb-honey, but I have
forgotten the date of the transaction. In i860, Cyrus Burdick
purchased several swarms of bees and had no difficulty in
selling the honey at one dollar a pound. By the fall of 1861,
the bee industry had so expanded that Perry & Woodworth,
as I have stated, devoted part of their time to the making of
beehives. J. E. Pleasants, of Santiago Caiion, known also for
his Cashmere goats, was another pioneer bee-man and received
a gold medal for his exhibit at the New Orleans Exposition.
CHAPTER X
EARLY SOCIAL LIFE
1854
IN June, 1854, my brother sold out, and I determined to
establish myself in business and thus become my own
master. My lack of knowledge of English was some-
what of a handicap; but youth and energy were in my favor,
and an eager desire to succeed overcame all obstacles. Upon
computing my worldly possessions, I found that I had saved
nearly two hundred and forty dollars, the sum total of my eight
months' wages; and this sum I invested in my first venture.
My brother, J. P. Newmark, opened a credit for me, which
contributed materially to my success; and I rented the store
on the north side of Commercial Street, about one hundred
feet west of Los Angeles, owned by Mateo Keller and just
vacated by Prudent Beaudry. Little did I think, in so doing,
that, twelve years later, some Nemesis would cause Beaudry
to sell out to me. I fully realized the importance of suc-
ceeding in my initial effort, and this requited me for seven
months of sacrifices, until January ist, 1855, when I took an
inventory and found a net profit of fifteen hundred dollars.
To give some idea of what was then required to attain such
success, I may say that, having no assistance at all, I was abso-
lutely a prisoner from early morning until late in the evening
— the usual hour of closing, as I have elsewhere explained,
being eight o'clock. From sweeping out to keeping books, I
attended to all my own work ; and since I neither wished to go
out and lock up nor leave my stock long unprotected, I remained
128
Myer J. and Harris Newmark
From a Daguerreotype
George Carson
John G. Nichols
David W. Alexander
Thomas E. Rowan
Matthew Keller
Samuel Meyer
[i8s4] Early Social Life 129
on guard all day, giving the closest possible attention to my
little store.
Business conditions in the fifties were necessarily very
different from what they are to-day. There was no bank in
Los Angeles for some years, although Downey and one or two
others may have had some kind of a safe. People generally
hoarded their cash in deep, narrow buckskin bags, hiding it
behind merchandise on the shelves until the departure of a
steamer for San Francisco, or turning it into such vouchers as
were negotiable and could be obtained here. John Temple,
who had a ranch or two in the North (from which he sent cattle
to his agent in San Francisco) , generally had a large reserve of
cash to his credit with butchers or bankers in the Northern city,
and he was thus able to issue drafts against his balances there ;
being glad enough to make the exchange, free of cost. When,
however. Temple had exhausted his cash, the would-be remitter
was compelled to send the coin itself by express. He would
then take the specie to the company's agent; and the latter,
in his presence, would do it up in a sealed package and charge
one dollar a hundred for safe transmission. No wonder, there-
fore, that people fotmd expressing coin somewhat expensive,
and were more partial to the other method.
In the beginning of the fifties, too, silver was irregular in
supply. Nevada's treasures still lay undiscovered within the
bowels of the earth, and much foreign coin was in use here,
leading the shrewdest operators to import silver money from
France, Spain, Mexico and other countries. The size of coins,
rather than their intrinsic value, was then the standard. For
example, a five-franc piece, a Mexican dollar or a coin of simi-
lar size from any other country passed for a dollar here ; while
a Mexican twenty-five-cent piece, worth but fourteen cents,
was accepted for an American quarter, so that these importers
did a " land-ofiice " business. Half-dollars and their equiva-
lents were very scarce ; and these coins being in great demand
among gamblers, it often happened that they would absorb the
supply. This forced such a premium that eighteen dollars in
silver would commonly bring twenty doUars in gold.
130 Sixty Years in Southern California [1854
Most of the output of the mines of Southern Cahfornia —
then rated as the best dust — went to San Francisco assayers,
who minted it into octagonal and round pieces known as slugs.
Among those issuing privately-stamped coins were J. S.
Ormsby (whose mark, /. S. 0., became familiar) and Augustus
Humbert, both of whom circulated eight-cornered ingots; and
Wass Molitor & Co., whose slugs were always round. Pieces
of the value of from one to twenty -five dollars, and even minia-
ture coins for fractional parts of a dollar, were also minted;
while F. D. Kohler, the State Assayer, made an oblong ingot
worth about fifty dollars. Some of the other important assay-
ing concerns were Moffatt & Co., Kellogg & Co. and Templeton
Reid. Baldwin & Co. was another firm which issued coins of
smaller denomination ; and to this firm belonged David Colbert
Broderick, who was killed by Terry.
Usurers were here from the beginning, and their tax was
often ruinously exorbitant. So much did they charge for money,
in fact, that from two to twelve and a half per cent, a week was
paid ; this brought about the loss of many early es.tates. I rec-
ollect, for example, that the owner of several thousand acres of
land borrowed two hundred dollars, at an interest charge of
twelve and a half per cent, for each week, from a resident
of Los Angeles whose family is still prominent in California;
and that when principal and interest amounted to twenty-two
thousand dollars, the lender foreclosed and thus ingloriously
came into possession of a magnificent property.
For at least twenty years after I arrived in Los Angeles, the
credit system was so irregular as to be no system at all. Land
and other values were exceedingly low, there was not much
ready money, and while the credit of a large rancher was small
compared with what his rating would be to-day because of the
tremendous advances in land and stock, much longer time was
then given on running accounts than would be allowed now.
Bills were generally settled after the harvest. The wine-grower
would pay his score when the grape crop was sold; and the
cattleman would liquidate what he could when he sold his
cattle. In other words, there was no credit foundation what-
1854] Early Social Life 131
ever; indeed, I have known accounts to be carried through
three and four dry seasons.
It is true, also, that many a fine property was lost through
the mania of the Calif ornian for gambling, and it might be
just as well to add that the loose credit system ruined many.
I believe, in fact, it is generally recognized in certain lines of
business that the too flexible local fiscal practice of to-day is the
descendant of the careless methods of the past.
My early experiences as a merchant afforded me a good
opportunity to observe the character and peculiarities of the
people with whom I had to deal. In those days a disposition to
steal was a common weakness on the part of many, especially
Indians, and merchants generally suffered so much from the
evil that a sharp lookout had to be kept. On one occasion, I
saw a native woman deftly abstract a pair of shoes and cleverly
secrete them on her person; and at the conclusion of her pur-
chases, as she was about to leave the store, I stepped up to her,
and with a " /Dispense me Vd.!" quietly recovered the zapatos.
The woman smiled, each of us bowed, the pilfering patron
departed, and nothing further was ever said of the affair.
This proneness to steal was frequently utilized by early and
astute traders, who kept on hand a stock of very cheap but
gaudy jewelry which was placed on the counter within easy
reach — a device which prevented the filching of more valuable
articles, while it attracted, at the same time, this class of cus-
tomers ; and as soon as the esteemed customers ceased to buy,
the trays of tempting trinkets were removed.
Shyness of the truth was another characteristic of many a
native that often had to be reckoned with by merchants wishing
to accommodate, as far as possible, while avoiding loss.
One day in 1854, a middle-aged Indian related to me that
his mother (who was living half a block north on Main
Street, and was between eighty and ninety years of age)
had suddenly died, and that he would like some candles, for
which he was unable to pay, to place around the bed holding
the remains of the departed. I could not refuse this filial
request, and straightway gave him the wax tapers which were
132 Sixty Years in Southern California [1854
to be used for so holy a purpose. The following day, however,
I met the old woman on the street and she was as lively a
corpse as one might ever expect to see ; leaving me to conclude
that she was lighted to her room, the previous night, by one of
the very candles supposed to be then lighting her to eternity.
The fact that I used to order straw hats which came tele-
scoped in dozens and were of the same pattern (in the crown
of one of which, at the top, I found one morning a litter of
kittens tenderly deposited there by the store cat), recalls an
amusing incident showing the modesty of the times, at least
in the style of ladies' bonnets. S. Lazard & Company once
made an importation of Leghorn hats which, when they arrived,
were found to be all trimmed alike — a bit of ribbon and a little
bunch of artificial flowers in front being their only ornamenta-
tion! Practically, all the fair damsels and matrons of the
town were limited, for the season, to this supply — a fact that
was patent enough, a few days later, at a picnic held at
Sainsevain's favorite vineyard and well patronized by the
feminine leaders in our little world.
But to return to one or two pioneers. David Workman
died soon after he came here, in 1854, with his wife whose
maiden name was Nancy Hook. He was a brother of William
Workman and followed him to Los Angeles, bringing his three
sons, Thomas H. — killed in the explosion of the Ada Hancock —
Elijah H. and William H., who was for a while a printer and
later in partnership with his brother in the saddlery business.
Elijah once owned a tract of land stretching from what is now
Main to Hill streets and around Twelfth. Workman Street is
named after this family.
Henry Melius, brother of Francis Melius, to whom I else-
where more fully refer, who had returned to New England,
was among us again in 1854. Whether this was the occa-
sion of Mellus's unfortunate investment, or not, I cannot say;
but on one of his trips to the East, he lost a quarter of a
million through an unlucky investment in iron.
Jean B. Trudell (a nephew of Damien Marchessault and a
cousin of P. Beaudry), for a short time in partnership with
i8s4l Early Social Life i33
S. Lazard, was an old-timer who married Anita, the widow of
Henry Melius ; and through this union a large family resulted.
He conducted salt works, from which he supplied the town with
all grades of cheap salt; and he stood well in the community.
Mrs. Trudell took care of her aunt, Mrs. Bell, during her later
years.
With the growth of our little town, newspapers increased,
even though they did not exactly prosper. On the 20th of
July, 1854, C. N. Richards & Company started the Southern
Californian, a name no doubt suggested by that of the San
Francisco journal, with William Butts as editor; and on Novem-
ber 2d, Colonel John 0. Wheeler joined Butts and bought out
Richards & Company. Their paper was printed in one of Dal-
ton's corrugated iron houses. The Southern Californian was a
four-page weekly, on one side of which news, editorials and
advertisements, often mere translations of matter in the other
columns, were published in Spanish. One result of the appear-
ance of this paper was that Waite & Company, a month or so
later, reduced the subscription price of the Star — their new rate
being nine dollars a year, or six dollars in advance.
In 1853, a number of Spanish-American restaurant keepers
plied their vocation, so that Mexican and Spanish cooking were
always obtainable. Then came the cafeteria, but the term was
used with a different significance from that now in vogue. It
was rather a place for drinking than for eating, and in this re-
spect the name had little of the meaning current in parts of
Mexico to-day, where a cafeteria is a small restaurant serving
ordinary alcoholic drinks and plain meals. Nor was the insti-
tution the same as that familiarly known in Pacific Coast
towns, and particularly in Los Angeles — one of the first American
cities to experiment with this departure ; where a considerable
variety of food (mostly cooked and warm) is displayed to view,
and the prospective diner, having secured his tray and napkin,
knife, fork and spoons, indicates his choice as he passes by the
steam-heated tables and is helped to whatever he selects, and
then carries both service and viands to a small table.
The native population followed their own cuisine, and the
134 Sixty Years in Southern California [i8s4
visitor to Spanish- American homes natxirally partook of native
food. All the Mexican dishes that are common now, such as
tamales, enchiladas and Jrijoles, were favorite dishes then.
There were many saloons in Sonora Town and elsewhere, and
mescal and aguardiente, popular drinks with the Mexicans, were
also indulged in by the first white settlers. Although there
were imported wines, the wine-drinkers generally patronized
the local product. This was a very cheap article, costing about
fifteen cents a gallon, and was usually supplied with meals,
without extra charge. Tamales in particular were very popular
with the Californians, but it took some time for the incoming
epicure to appreciate all that was claimed for them and other
masterpieces of Mexican cooking.
The tortilla was another favorite, being a generous-sized
maize cake, round and rather thin, in the early preparation of
which the grain was softened, cleaned and parboiled, after
which it was rolled and crushed between two pieces of fiat stone.
Deft hands then worked the product into a pancake, which was
placed, sometimes on a piece of stoneware, sometimes on a
plate of iron, and baked, first on one side and then on the other.
A part of the trick in tortilla-hakm.g consisted in its delicate
toasting; and when just the right degree of parching had been
reached, the crisp, tasty tortilla was ready to maintain its
position even against more pretentious members of the pan-
cake family.
Pan de huevos, or bread of eggs, was peddled around town
on little trays by Mexican women and, when well-prepared,
was very palatable. Panocha, a dark Mexican sugar made into
cakes, was also vended by native women. Pinole was brought
in by Indians ; and as far as I can remember, it could not have
had a very exact meaning, since I have heard the term ap-
plied both to ground pinenuts and ground corn, and it may
also have been used to mean other food prepared in the same
manner. Be this as it may, the value to the Indian came from
the fact that, when mixed with water, pinole proved a cheap,
but nutritious article of diet.
I have told of the old-fashioned, comfortable adobes, broad
i8s4l Early Social Life 135
and liberal, whose halls, rooms, verandas and patios bespoke
at least comfort if not elaborateness. Among the old Califor-
nia families dwelling within these houses, there was much
visiting and entertainment, and I often partook of this prover-
bial and princely hospitality. There was also much merry-
making, the firing of crackers, bell-ringing and dancing the
fandango, jota and cachucha marking their jolly and whole-
souled j^e^to^. Only for the first few years after I came was the
real fandango — so popular when Dana visited Los Angeles
and first saw Don Juan Bandini execute the dance — witnessed
here; little by little it went out of fashion, perhaps in part
because of the skill required for its performance. Balls and
hops, however, for a long time were carelessly called by that
name. When the fandango really was in vogue, Bandini, Antonio
Coronel, Andres Pico, the Lugos and other native Californians
were among its most noted exponents; they often hired a hall,
gave a fandango in which they did not hesitate to take the lead-
ing parts, and turned the whole proceeds over to some church or
charity. On such occasions not merely the plain people
(always so responsive to music and its accompanying pleasures)
were the fandangueros, but the flower of our local society turned
out en masse, adding to the affair a high degree of eclat. There
was no end, too, of good things to eat and drink, which people
managed somehow to pass around; and the enjoyment was
not lessened by the fact that every such dance hall was crowded
to the walls, and that the atmosphere, relieved by but a narrow
door and window or two, was literally thick with both dust and
smoke.
Still living are some who have memories of these old fan-
dango days and the joiu-neys taken from suburb to town in
order to participate in them. Doha Petra Pilar Lanfranco used
to tell me how, as a young girl, she came up from the old Palos
Verdes ranch house in a carreta and was always chaperoned
by a lady relative. On such occasions, the carreta would be
provided with mattresses, pillows and covers, while at the
end, well strapped, was the trunk containing the finery to be
worn at the ball. To reach town even from a point that would
136 Sixty Years in Southern California [1854
now be regarded as near, a start was generally made by four
o'clock in the morning ; and it often took until late the same
evening -to arrive at the Bella Union, where final preparations
were made.
One of the pleasant f eatiires of a fandango or hop was the
use of cascarones, or egg-shells, filled with one thing or another,
agreeable when scattered, and for the time being sealed up.
These shells were generally painted; and most often they
contained many-colored pieces of paper, or the tinsel, oropel,
cut up very fine. Not infrequently the shell of the egg was
filled with perfume ; and in the days when Calif ornians were
flush, gold leaf or even gold dust was sometimes thus inclosed,
with a wafer, and kept for the casamiento, when it wovild be
showered upon the fortunate bride. The greatest compli-
ment that a gentleman could pay a lady was to break one of
these cascarones over her head, and often the compliment
would be returned; the floor, at the termination of such
festivities, being literally covered with the bits of paper and
egg-shell. When the fandango was on in all its mad delight,
a gentleman would approach a lady to salute her, upon which
she would bow her head slightly and permit him, while he
gently squeezed the egg-shell, to let its contents fall grace-
fully over her head, neck and shoulders; and very often she
would cleverly choose the right moment — perhaps when he
was not looking — to politely reciprocate the courtesy, under
which circumstances he was in duty bovmd to detect, if he
could, among the smiling, blushing ladies, the one who had
ventured so agreeably to offend. Such was the courtliness, in
fact, among the native population that even at fandangos, in
which the public participated and the compliment of the
cascaron was almost universally observed, there was seldom a
violation of regard for another's feelings. When such rowdyism
did occur, however (prompted perhaps by jealousy), and bad
eggs or that which was even less aromatic, were substituted,
serious trouble ensued ; and one or two fatalities are on record
as growing out of such senseless acts. Speaking of fandangos,
it may be aded that in January, 1861, the Common Council of
i854l Early Social Life 137
Los Angeles passed an ordinance reqtiiring the payment in
advance of ten dollars for a one-night license to hold any
public dance within the city limits.
The pueblo was so smaU in the fifties, and the number of
white people so limited that, whenever a newcomer arrived, it
caused considerable general excitement; and when it infre-
quently happened that persons of note came for even a single
night, a deputation of prominent citizens made their short stay
both noisy with cannonading and tiresome with spread-eagle
oratory.
A very important individual in early days was Peter Biggs,
or Nigger Pete, a pioneer barber who came here in 1852, having
previously been sold as a slave to an officer at Fort Leaven-
worth and freed, in California, at the close of the Mexican War.
He was a black-haired, good-natured man, then about forty
years of age, and had a shop on Main Street, near, the Bella
Union. He was, indeed, the only barber in town who catered
to Americans, and while by no means of the highest tonsorial
capacity, was sufficiently appreciative of his monopoly to
charge fifty cents for shaving and seventy-five cents for hair-
cutting. When, however, a Frenchman named Felix Signoret
(whose daughter married Ed. McGinnis, the high-toned saloon
keeper) appeared, some years later — a barber by trade, of
whom we shall hear more later — it was not long before Pete
was seriously embarrassed, being compelled, first to reduce
his prices and then to look for more humble work. In the
early sixties, Pete was advertising as follows:
NEW ORLEANS SHAVING SALOON
Opposite Mellus' Store on Main Street.
PRICES REDUCED!
To Keep Pace with the Times
Shaving 1 2^c.
Hair-cutting 25c.
Shampoowing 25c.
Peter Biggs will always be on hand and ready to attend to all
business in his line, such as cleaning and polishing the "under-
138 Sixty Years in Southern California [1854
standing" together with an Intelligence Office and City Express.
Also washing and ironing done with all neatness and despatch, at
reasonable rates.
Recalling Biggs and his barber shop, I may say that, in
fitting up his place, he made little or no pretension. He had an
old-fashioned, high-backed chair, but otherwise operated much
as barbers do to-day. People sat around waiting their turn ; and
as Biggs called " Next ! " he sprinkled the last victim with Flor-
ida water, applying to the hair at the same time his Bear Oil
(sure to leave its mark on walls and pillows) , after which, with
a soiled towel he put on the finishing touch — for one towel in
those days served many customers. But few patrons had
their private cups. Biggs served only men and boys, as ladies
dressed their own hair. To some extent, Biggs was a maker
or, at least, a purveyor of wigs.
Besides Peter Biggs, a number of colored people lived in
Los Angeles at an early date — five of whom belonged to the
Mexican Veterans — Bob Owens and his wife being among the
most prominent. Owens — who came here from Texas in Decem-
ber, 1853 — was known to his friends as Uncle Bob, while Mrs.
Owens was called Aunt Winnie. The former at first did all
kinds of odd jobs, later profiting through dealings with the
Government; while his good wife washed clothes, in which
capacity she worked from time to time for my family. They
lived in San Pedro Street, and invested their savings in a lot
extending from Spring to Fort streets, between Third and
Fourth. Owens died in 1865. Their heirs are wealthy as a
result of this investment ; in fact, I should not be surprised if
they are among the most prosperous negroes in America.
Another colored man of the sixties was named Berry, though
he was popularly known as Uncle George. He was indeed a
local character, a kind of popinjay ; and when not busy with
janitor or other all-around scrubwork, sported among the
negroes as an ultra-fashionable.
Elsewhere I have spoken of the versatility of Dr. William
B. Osburn, who showed no little commendable enterprise.
i854l Early Social Life I39
In October, 1854, he shipped to an agricultural convention in
Albany, New York, the first Los Angeles grapes ever sent to the
East ; and the next year he imported roses, shrubbery and fruit
trees from Rochester.
On October 13th, 1854, a good-for-nothing gambler, Dave
Brown — who had planned to rob John Temple on one of his
business trips, but was thwarted because Temple changed his
route^ — murdered a companion, Pinckney Clifford, in a Uvery
stable at what was later to become the corner of Main and
Court streets ; and next day the lawless act created such general
indignation that vengeance on Brown would undoubtedly then
and there have been wreaked had not Stephen C. Foster, who
was Mayor, met the crowd of citizens and persuaded them
quietly to disperse. In order to mollify the would-be Vigilantes,
Foster promised that, if the case miscarried in the courts and
Brown was not given his due, he would resign his office
and would himself lead those who favored taking the law into
their own hands ; and as Foster had been a Lieutenant in the
Rangers under Dr. Hope, showing himself to be a man of nerve,
the crowd had confidence in him and went its way.
On November 30th, Brown was tried in the District Court,
and Judge Benjamin Hayes sentenced him to hang on January
I2th, 1855 — the same date on which Felipe Alvitre, a half-breed
Indian, was to pay the penalty for kilUng James ElUngton at
El Monte. • Brown's counsel were J. R. Scott, Cameron E.
Thom and J. A. Watson; and these attorneys worked so hard
and so effectively for their client that on January loth, or two
days before the date set for the execution, Judge Murray of the
Supreme Court granted Brown a stay, although apparently no
reHef was provided for Alvitre. The latter was hanged in
the calaboose or jail yard, in the presence of a vast number of
people, at the time appointed. Alvitre having been strung up
by Sheriff Barton and his assistants, the rope broke, letting the
wretch fall to the ground, more dead than alive. This bungling
so infuriated the crowd that cries of "Arriba! Arriba!" (Up
with him ! up with him !) rent the air. The executioners sprang
forward, lifted the body, knotted the rope together and once
140 Sixty Years in Southern California [1854
more drew aloft the writhing form. Then the gallows was
dismantled and the guards dismissed.
The news that one execution had taken place, while the
Court, in the other case, had interfered, was speedily known by
the crowds in the streets and proved too much for the patience
of the populace ; and only a leader or two were required to focus
the indignation of the masses. That leader appeared in Foster
who, true to his word, resigned from the office of Mayor
and put himself at the head of the mob. Appeals, evoking
loud applause, were made by one speaker after another, each
in turn being lifted to the top of a barrel; and then the
crowd began to surge toward the jail. Poles and crowbars
were brought, and a blacksmith called for; and the prison
doors, which had been locked, bolted and barred, were broken
in, very soon convincing the Sheriff and his assistants —
if any such conviction were needed — that it was useless to
resist. In a few minutes, Brown was reached, dragged out
and across Spring Street, and there hanged to the cross-
beam of a corral gateway opposite the old jail, the noose
being drawn tight while he was still attempting to address the
crowd.
When Brown was about to be disposed of, he was asked if
he had anything to say; to which he replied that he had no
objection to paying the penalty of his crime, but that he did
take exception to a "lot of Greasers" shuffling him off! Brown
referred to the fact that Mexicans especially were conspicuous
among those who had hold of the rope; and his coarsely-ex-
pressed objection striking a humorous vein among the auditors,
the order was given to indulge his fancy and accommodate him
— whereupon, Americans strung him up ! One of those who had
previously volunteered to act as hangman for Brown was Juan
Gonzales; but within four months, that is, in May, 1855,
Gonzales himself was sent to the penitentiary by Judge Myron
Norton, convicted of horse-stealing.
A rather amusing f eatiire of this hanging was the manner in
which the report of it was served up to the public. The lynch-
ing-bee seemed likely to come off about three o'clock in the after-
i854] Early Social Life 141
noon, while the steamer for San Francisco was to leave at ten
o'clock on the same morning; so that the schedules did not
agree. A closer connection was undoubtedly possible — at least
so thought Billy Workman, then a typo on the Southern Cali-
fornian, who planned to print a full account of the execution
in time to reach the steamer. So Billy sat down and wrote
out every detail, even to the confession of the murderer on the
improvised gallows ; and several hours before the tragic event
actually took place, the wet news-sheet was aboard the vessel
and on its way north. A few surplus copies gave the lynch-
ers the unique opportunity, while watching the stringing-
up, of comparing the written story with the affair as it actually
occurred.
While upon the subject of lynching, I wish to observe that
I have witnessed many such distressing affairs in Los Angeles ;
and that, though the penalty of hanging was sometimes too
severe for the crime (and I have always deplored, as much as
any of us ever did, the administration of mob-justice) yet the
safety of the better classes in those troublous times often de-
manded quick and determined action, and stem necessity knew
no law. And what is more, others besides myself who have also
repeatedly faced dangers no longer common, agree with me in
declaring, after half a century of observation and reflection,
that milder courses than those of the vigilance committees of
our young community could hardly have been followed with
wisdom and safety.
Wood was the only regular fuel for many years, and people
were accustomed to buy it in quantities and to pile it care-
fully in their yards. When it was more or less of a drug on the
market, I paid as little as three dollars and a half a cord; in
winter I had to pay more, but the price was never high. No tree
was spared, and I have known magnificent oaks to be wanton-
ly felled and used for fuel. Valuable timber was often destroyed
by squatters guilty of a form of trespassing that gave much
trouble, as I can testify from my own experience.
Henry D wight Barrows, who had been educated as a Yan-
kee schoolmaster, arrived in Los Angeles in December, 1854, ^
142 Sixty Years in Southern California [1854
private tutor to William Wolfskill. Other parts of Barrows's
career were common to many pioneers : he was in business for a
while in New York, caught the gold-fever, gave up everything
to make the jovuney across the Isthmus of Panama, on which
trip he was herded as one of seventeen hundred passengers on a
rickety Coast vessel; and finally, after some unsuccessful ex-
periences as a miner in Northern California, he made his way to
the Southland to accept the proffered tutorship, hoping to be
cured of the malarial fever which he had contracted during his
adventures. Barrows taught here three years, rettuned East by
steamer for a brief trip in 1857, ^^^ ^^ 1859-60 tried his hand at
cultivating grapes, in a vineyard owned by Prudent Beaudry.
On November 14th, i860. Barrows was married to Wolf skill's
daughter, Seiiorita Juana; and later he was County School
Superintendent. In 1861 , President Lincoln appointed Barrows
United States Marshal, the duties of which of&ce he performed
for four years. In 1864, having lost his wife he married the
widow (formerly Miss Alice Woodworth) of Thomas Workman.
The same year he formed a partnership with J. D. Hicks,
under the firm name of J. D. Hicks & Company, and sold
tin and hardware for twelve or fifteen years. In 1868, be-
reaved of his second wife. Barrows married Miss Bessie Ann
Greene, a native of New York. That year, too, he was joined
by his brother, James Arnold Barrows, ' who came by way of
PanamS, and bought thirty -five acres of land afterward obtained
by the University of Southern California. About 1874, Bar-
rows was manufactiu-ing pipe. For years he dwelt with his
daughter, Mrs. R. G. Weyse, contributing now and then to the
activities of the Historical Society, and taking a keen interest ^
in Los Angeles affairs.
About 1854 or 1855, I- M., Samuel and Herman (who must
not be confused with H. W.) Hellman, arrived here, I. M. pre-
ceding his brothers by a short period. In time, I. M. Hellman,
in San Francisco, married Miss Caroline Adler; and in 1862
her sister. Miss Adelaide, came south on a visit and married
'Died, June 9th, 1914.
'Died, August 7th, 1914.
i854l Early Social Life 143
Samuel Hellman. One of the children of this tinion is Maurice
S. Hellman, who, for many years associated with Joseph F.
Sartori, has occupied an important position in banking and
financial circles.
In 1854 or 1855, Bishop & Beale, a firm consisting of Samuel
A. Bishop and E. F. Beale, became owners of an immense tract
of Kern County land consisting of between two and three
hundred thousand acres. This vast territory was given to
them in payment for the work which they had done in surveying
the Butterfield Route, later incorporated in the stage road
connecting San Francisco with St. Louis. Recently I read an
account of Beale's having been an Indian Agent at the Reserva-
tion; but if he was, I have forgotten it. I remember Colonel
James F. Vineyard, an Indian Agent and later Senator from
Los Angeles; one of whose daughters was married, in 1862,
to Congressman Charles De Long, of Nevada City, after-
ward United States Minister to Japan, and another daughter
to Dr. Hayes, of Los Angeles.
Bishop, after a while, sold out his interest in the land
and moved to San Jose, where he engaged in street-car opera-
tions. He was married near San Gabriel to Miss Frances Young,
and I officiated as one of the groomsmen at the wedding. After
Bishop disposed of his share. Colonel R. S. Baker became
interested, but whether or not he bought Bishop's interest at
once, is not clear in my memory. It is worth noting that
Bakersfield, which was part of this great ranch, took its name
from Colonel Baker. Some time later, Baker sold out to Beale
and then came South and purchased the San Vicente Ranch.
This rancho comprised the whole Santa Monica district
and consisted of thirty thousand acres, which Baker stocked
with sheep. On a part of this land, the Soldiers' Home now
stands.
Hilliard P. Dorsey, another typical Western character,
was Register of the Land Office and a leading Mason of early
days. He lived in Los Angeles in 1853, and I met him on the
Goliah in October of that year, on the way south, after a brief
visit to San Francisco, and while I was bound for my new
144 Sixty Years in Southern California [i8s4
home. We saw each other frequently after my arrival here;
and I was soon on good terms with him. When I embarked
in business on my own account, therefore, I solicited Dorsey's
patronage.
One day, Dorsey bought a suit of clothes from me on
credit. A couple of months passed by, however, without any
indication on his part that he intended to pay ; and as the svun
involved meant much to me at that time, I was on the lookout
for my somewhat careless debtor. In due season, catching
sight of him on the other side of the street, I approached, in
genuine American fashion, and unceremoniously asked him to
liquidate his account. I had not then heard of the notches in
Friend Dorsey's pistol, and was so unconscious of danger that
my temerity seemed to impress him. I believe, in fact, that
he must have found the experience novel. However that may
be, the next day he called and paid his bill.
In relating this circumstance to friends, I was enlightened
as to Dorsey's peculiar propensities and convinced that youth
and ignorance alone had saved me from disaster. In other
words, he let me go, as it were, on probation. Dorsey himself
was killed sometime later by his father-in-law, William Ru-
bottom, who had come to El Monte with Ezekiel Rubottom, in
1852 or 1853. After quarreling with Rubottom, Dorsey, who
was not a bad fellow, but of a fiery temper, had entered
the yard with a knife in his hand; and Rubottom had threat-
ened to shoot him if he came any nearer. The son-in-law
continued to advance; and Rubottom shot him dead. M. J.
Newmark, Rubottom's attorney, who had been summoned to
El Monte for consultation as to Dorsey's treatment of Rubot-
tom's daughter, was present at the fatal moment and wit-
nessed the shooting affray.
Uncle Billy Rubottom, as he was familiarly called, came to
Los Angeles County after losing heavily through the bursting
of Yuba Dam and was one of the founders of Spadra. He
named the settlement, laid out on a part of the San Jos6 rancho,
after his home town, Spadra Bluffs in Arkansas, and opened a
hotel which he made locally famous, during a decade and a
i8s4] Early Social Life 145
half, for barbecues and similar events, giving personal attention
(usually while in shirt-sleeves) to his many guests. In his
declining years, Uncle Billy lived with Kewen H. Dorsey, his
grandson, who was also prominent in masonic circles.
CHAPTER XI
THE RUSH FOR GOLD
1855
AS I have already related, I made fifteen hundred dollars
in a few months, and in January, 1855, "ly brother
advised me to form a partnership with men of maturer
years. In this I acquiesced. He thereupon helped to organize
the firm of Rich, Newmark & Company, consisting of Elias
Laventhal (who reached here in 1854 and died on January 20th,
1902), Jacob Rich and myself. Rich was to be the San Fran-
cisco resident partner, while Laventhal and I undertook the
management of the business in Los Angeles. We prospered from
the beginning, deriving much benefit from oiur San Francisco
representation which resulted in our building up something
of a wholesale business.
In the early fifties, Los Angeles was the meeting-place of a
Board of Land Commissioners appointed by the National
Government to settle land-claims and to prepare the way for
that granting of patents to owners of Southern California
ranches which later awakened from time to time such interest
here. This interest was largely due to the fact that the Mexi-
can authorities, in numerous instances, had made the same
grant to different persons, often confusing matters badly.
Cameron E. Thom, then Deputy Land Agent, took testi-
mony for the Commissioners. In 1855, this Board com-
pleted its labors. The members were Hiland Hall (later
Governor of Vermont,) Harry I. Thornton and Thompson
CampbeU; and during the season they were here, these Land
146
[i8ss] The Rush for Gold i47
Commissioners formed no unimportant part of the Los Angeles
legal world.
Thomas A. Delano, whose name is perpetuated in our local
geography, was a sailor who came to Los Angeles on January 4th,
1855, after which, for fifteen or sixteen years, he engaged in
freighting. He married Senorita Soledad, daughter of John
C. Vejar, the well-known Spanish Californian.
Slowness and uncertainty of mail delivery in our first
decades affected often vital interests, as is shown in the case of
the half-breed Alvitre who, as I have said, was sentenced to be
executed. One reason why the Vigilantes, headed by Mayor
Foster, despatched Brown was the expectation that both he
and Alvitre would get a stay from higher authority ; and sure
enough, a stay was granted Alvitre, but the document was
delayed in transit until the murderer, on January 12th, 1855,
had forfeited his life! Curiously enough, another Alvitre —
an aged Californian named Jose Claudio — also of El Monte,
but six years later atrociously murdered his aged wife; and on
April 28th, 1861, he was hanged. The lynchers placed him on a
horse under a tree, and then drove the animal away, leaving
him suspended from a limb.
Washington's Birthday, in 1855, was made merrier by
festivities conducted under the auspices of the City Guards, of
which W. W. Twist — a grocer and commission merchant at
Beaudry's Block, Aliso Street, and afterward in partnership
with Casildo Aguilar — was Captain. The same organization
gave its first anniversary ball in May. Twist was a Ranger,
or member of the volunteer mounted police ; and it was he who,
in March, 1857, formed the first rifle company. In the early
sixties, he was identified with the sheriff's office, after which,
venturing into Mexico, he was killed.
Henry C. G. Schaeffer came to Los Angeles on March i6th,
1855, and opened the first gunsmith shop in a little adobe on
the east side of Los Angeles Street near Commercial, which he
soon surrounded with an attractive flower garden. A year after
Schaeffer came, he was followed by another gunsmith, August
Stoermer. Schaeffer continued, however, to sell and mend
148 Sixty Years in Southern California [1855
guns and to cultivate flowers; and twenty years later found
him on Wilmington Street, near New Commercial, still encir-
cled by one of the choicest collections of flowers in the city,
and the first to have brought here the night-blooming cereus.
With more than regret, therefore, I must record that, in the
middle seventies, this warm-hearted friend of children, so
deserving of the good will of everyone, committed suicide.
Gold was discovered at Havilah, Kern County, in 1854; and
by the early spring of 1855 exaggerated accounts of the find
had spread broadcast over the entire State. Yarn after yarn
passed from mouth to mouth, one of the most extravagant
of the reports being that a Mexican doctor and alchemist
suddenly rode into Mariposa from the hills, where he had
found a gulch paved with gold, his horse and himself being
fairly covered with bags of nuggets. The rush by gold-seekers
on tjieir way from the North to Los Angeles (the Southern
gateway to the fields) began in January, 1855, and continued a
couple of years, every steamer being loaded far beyond the
safety limit; and soon miles of the rough highways leading to
the mines were covered with every conceivable form of vehicle
and struggling animals, as well as with thousands of footsore
prospectors, unable to command transportation at any price.
For awhile, ten, twelve and even fifteen per cent, interest a
month was offered for small amounts of money by those of the
prospectors who needed assistance, a rate based on the cal-
culation that a wide-awake digger would be sure of eight to ten
dollars a day, and that with such returns one should certainly
be satisfied. This time the excitement was a little too much for
the Los Angeles editors to ignore; and in March the publisher
of the Southern Californian, himself losing his balance, issued
an "extra" with these startling announcements:
STOP THE PRESS!
GLORIOUS NEWS FROM KERN RIVER!
BRING OUT THE BIG GUN!
There are a thousand gulches rich with gold, and room for
ten thousand miners ! Miners average $50.00 a day. One man
i8s5] The Rush for Gold 149
with his own hands took out $160.00 in a day. Five men in
ten days took out $4,500.00.
The affair proved, however, a ridiculous failvtre; and Wil-
liam Marsh, an old Los Angeles settler and a very decent chap,
who conducted a store at Havilah, was among those who suffered
heavy loss. Although some low-grade ore was found, it was
generally not in paying quantities. The dispersion of this
adventurous mass of humanity brought to Los Angeles many
undesirable people, among them gamblers and desperadoes,
who flocked in the wake of the gold-diggers, making another
increase in the rough element. Before long, four men were
fatally shot and half a dozen wounded near the Plaza, one
Sunday night.
When the excitement about the gold-finds along the Kern
River was at its height, Frank Lecouvreur arrived here,
March 6th, on the steamship America, lured by reports then
current in San Francisco. To save the fare of five dollars, he
trudged for ten hours all the way from San Pedro, carrying on
his shoulders f crty pounds of baggage ; but on putting up at the
United States Hotel, then recently started, he was dissuaded
by some experienced miners from venturing farther up the
country. Soon after, he met a fellow-countryman from
Konigsberg, named Arnold, who induced him, on account of his
needy condition, to take work in his saloon ; but disliking his
duties and the rather frequent demands upon his nervous
system through being shot at, several times, by patrons not
exactly satisfied with Lecouvreur's locomotion and his method
of serving, the young German quit the job and went to
work as a carriage-painter for John GoUer. In October, Cap-
tain Henry Hancock, then County Surveyor, engaged Le-
couvreur as flagman, at a salary of sixty dollars; which was
increased twenty-five per cent, on the trip of the surveyors
to the Mojave.
March 29th, 1855, witnessed the organization of the first
Odd Fellows' lodge — No. 35 — instituted here. General Ezra
Drown was the leading spirit; and others associated with him
150 Sixty Years in Southern California [iSss
were E. Wilson High, Alexander Crabb, L. C. Goodwin, William
C. Ardinger, Morris L. Goodman and M. M. Davis.
During the fifties, the Bella Union passed under several
successive managements. On July 22d, 1854, Dr. Macy sold it to
W. G. Ross and a partner named Crockett. They were suc-
ceeded, on April 7th, 1855, by Robert S. Hereford. Ross was
killed, some years afterward, by C. P. Duane in San Francisco.
In pursuit of business, in 1855, I made a number of trips to
San Bernardino, some of which had their amusing incidents, and
most of which afforded pleasure or an agreeable change. Meet-
ing Sam Meyer on one of these occasions, just as I was mounted
and ready to start, I invited him to accompany me; and as Sam
assured me that he knew where to secure a horse, we started
down the street together and soon passed a shop in which
there was a Mexican customer holding on to a reata leading out
through the door to his saddled nag. Sam walked in; and
having a casual acquaintance with the man, asked him if he
would lend him the animal for a while ? People were generous
in those days; and the good-hearted Mexican, thinking perhaps
that Sam was "just going around the corner," carelessly an-
swered, "Si, Senor," and proceeded with his bartering. Sam,
on the other hand, came out of the shop and led the horse
away ! After some days of minor adventures, when we lost our
path near the Old Mission and had to put back to El Monte
for the night, we arrived at San Bernardino; and on our return,
after watering the horses, Sam found in his unhaltered steed
such a veritable Tartar that, in sheer desperation, he was about
to shoot the borrowed beast !
On another one of these trips I was entertained by Simon
Jackson, a merchant of that town, who took me to a restaurant
kept by a Captain Weiner. This, the best eating-place in town,
was about ten feet square and had a mud floor. It was a
miserably hot day — so hot, in fact, that I distinctly remember
the place being filled with flies, and that the butter had run to
oil. Nature had not intended Weiner to cater to sensitive
stomachs, at least not on the day of which I speak, and to make
matters worse, Weiner was then his own waiter. He was
i8s5] The Rush for Gold 151
wallowing around in his bare feet, and was otherwise unkempt
and unclean; and the whole scene is therefore indelibly im-
pressed on my memory. When the slovenly Captain bawled out :
"Which will you have — chops or steak?" Jackson straightened
up, threw out his chest, and in evidence of the vigor of his
appetite, just as vociferously answered : "I want a steak as big
as a mule's foot!"
Living in San Bernardino was a customer of ours, a celeb-
rity by the name of Lewis Jacobs. He had joined the Mormon
Church and was a merchant of worth and consequence. Jacobs
was an authority on all matters of finance connected with his
town, and anyone wishing to know the condition of business
men in that neighborhood had only to apply to him. Once
when I was in San Bernardino, I asked him for information
regarding a prospective patron who was rather a gay sort of
individual; and this was Jacobs's characteristic reply: "A very
fine fellow: he plays a little poker, and drinks a little whiskey!"
Jacobs became a banker and in 1900 died on shipboard while
returning from Europe, leaving a comfortable fortune and the
more valuable asset of a good name.
In referring to Alexander & Melius and their retirement from
business, I have said that merchandise required by SouthernCal-
ifornians in the early days, and before the absorption of the Los
Angeles market by San Francisco, was largely transported by
sailing vessels from the East. When a ship arrived, it was an
event worthy of special notice, and this was particularly the
case when such sailing craft came less and less often into port.
Sometimes the arrival of the vessel was heralded in advance;
and when it was unloaded, the shrewd merchants used decidedly
modern methods for the marketing of their wares. In 1855, for
example, Johnson & Allanson advertised as follows:
NEW GOODS! NEW GOODS!
Direct from the Atlantic States, 1 12 Days' Passage.
Samples of the Cargo at our Store in the Stearns Bvdlding;
and the entire Cargo will be disposed of cheap, for cash.
Goods delivered at San Pedro or Los Angeles.
152 Sixty Years in Southern California USss
From the above announcement, it must not be inferred that
these Los Angeles tradesmen brought to this port the whole
shipload of merchandise. Such ships left but a small part of
their cargo here, the major portion being generally consigned
to the North.
The dependence on San Francisco continued until the com-
pletion of our first transcontinental railway. In the mean-
time, Los Angeles had to rely on the Northern city for nearly
everything, live stock being about the only exception ; and this
relation was shown in 1855 by the publication of no less than
four columns of San Francisco advertisements in the regular
issue of a Los Angeles newspaper. Much of this commerce
with the Southland for years was conducted by means of
schooners which ran irregularly and only when there was cargo.
They plied between San Francisco and San Pedro, and by
agreement put in at Santa Barbara and other Coast places
such as Port San Luis, when the shipments warranted such
stops. N. Pierce & Company were the owners. One of these
vessels in 1855 was the clipper schooner Laura Bevan, cap-
tained by F. Morton and later wrecked at sea when Frank
Lecouvrevu- just escaped taking passage on her; and an-
other was the Sea Serpent, whose Captain bore the name of
Fish.
I have said that in 1849 the old side-wheeler Gold Hunter
had commenced paddling the waters around here ; but so far as
I can remember, she was not operating in 1853. The Goliah, on
the other hand, was making two round trips a month, carrying
passengers, mail and freight from San Francisco to San Diego,
and stopping at various Coast points including San Pedro.
In a vague way, I also remember the mail steamer Ohio under
one of the Haleys, the Sea Bird, at one time commanded by
Salisbtiry Haley, and the Southerner; and if I am uncertain
about others, the difficulty may be due to the fact that, because
of unseaworthiness and miserable service, owners changed the
names of ships from time to time in order to allay the popular
prejudice and distrust, so that during some years, several names
were successively applied to the same vessel. It must have been
i85s] The Rush for Gold 153
about 1855 or 1856 that the Senator (brought to the Coast by
Captain Coffin, January 28th, 1853) was put on the Southern run,
and with her advent began a considerably improved service.
As the schooners were even more irregular than the steamers,
I generally divided my shipments, giving to the latter what I
needed immediately, and consigning by the schooners, whose
freight rates were much lower, what could stand delay. One
more word about the Goliah: one day in the eighties I heard
that she was still doing valiant service, having been sold to a
Puget Sound company.
Recalling these old-time side-wheelers whose paddles
churned the water into a frothing foam out of all proportion to
the speed with which they drove the boat along her coiurse, I
recall, with a feeling almost akin to sentiment, the roar of the
signal-gun fired just before landing, making the welcome
announcement, as well to the traveler as to his friends
awaiting him on shore, that the voyage had been safely
consummated.
Shortly after my arrival in Los Angeles, the transportation
service was enlarged by the addition of a stage line from San
Francisco which ran along the Coast from the Northern city to
the Old Town of San Diego, making stops all along the road, in-
cluding San Jose, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and San
Buenaventura, and particularly at Los Angeles, where not only
horses, but stages and supplies were kept. The stage to San
Diego followed, for the most part, the route selected later
by the Santa Fe Railroad.
These old-time stages remind me again of the few varieties
of vehicles then in use. John GoUer had met with much skepti-
cism and ridicule, as I have said, when he was planning an im-
provement on the old and clumsy carreta; and when his new ideas
did begin to prevail, he suffered from competition. E. L. Scott
& Company came as blacksmiths and carriage-makers in 1855;
and George Boorham was another who arrived about the same
time. Ben McLoughlin was also an early wheelwright. Among
GoUer's assistants who afterward opened shops for themselves,
were the three Louis's — Roeder, Lichtenberger and Breer;
154 Sixty Years in Southern California Uiss
Roeder and Lichtenberger' having a place on the west side of
Spring Street just south of First.
Thomas W. Seeley, Captain of the Senator, was very fond
of Los Angeles diversions, as will appear from the following
anecdote of the late fifties. After bringing his ship to anchor
off the coast, he woiild hasten to Los Angeles, leaving his
vessel in command of First Mate Butters to complete the
voyage to San Diego and return, which consumed forty-eight
hotu-s ; and during this interval, the old Captain regularly made
his headquarters at the Bella Union. There he would spend
practically all of his time playing poker, then considered the
gentleman's game of chance, and which, since the mania for
Chemical Purity had not yet possessed Los Angeles, was looked
upon without criticism. When the steamer returned from San
Diego, Captain Seeley, if neither his own interest in the game
nor his fellow-players' interest in his pocketbook, had ebbed,
would postpone the departure of his ship, frequently for even
as much as twenty-four hours, thus adding to the irregularity of
sailings which I have already mentioned. Many, in fact, were
the inconveniences to which early travelers were subjected
from this infrequency of trips and failure to sail at the
stated hour; and to aggravate the trouble, the vessels were all
too small, especially when a sudden excitement — due, per-
haps, to some new report of the discovery of gold — increased
the number of intending travelers. It even happened, some-
times, that persons were compelled to postpone their trip
until the departure of another boat. Speaking of anchoring
vessels off the coast, I may add that high seas frequently made
it impossible to reach the steamers announced to leave at a
certain time ; in which case the officers used to advertise in the
newspapers that the time of departure had been changed.
When Captain Seeley was killed in the Ada Hancock dis-
aster, in 1863, First Mate Butters was made Captain and
continued for some time in command. Just what his real
fitness was, I cannot say; but it seemed to me that he did not
know the Coast any too well. This impression also existed in
' Lichtenberger died some years ago; Roeder died February 20th, 1915.
Louis Sainsevain
Manuel Dominguez
El Aliso, the Sainsevain Winery
From an old lithograph
John T. Lanfranco
Jacob Ellas
J. Frank Bums
Henry D. Barrows
i85s] The Rush for Gold 155
the minds of others; and once, when we were supposed to be
making our way to San Francisco, the heavy fog lifted and re-
vealed the shore thirty miles north of our destination ; where-
upon a fellow-passenger exclaimed : "Why, Captain, this isn't
at all the part of the Coast where we should be!" The remark
stung the sensitive Butters, who probably was conscious enough
of his shortcomings ; and straightway he threatened to put the
offending passenger in irons !
George F. Lamson was an auctioneer who arrived in Los
Angeles in 1855. Aside from the sale of live stock, there was
not much business in his line; although, as I have said. Dr. Os-
burn, the Postmaster, also had an auction room. Sales of
household effects were held on a Tuesday or a Wednesday ; while
horses were offered for sale on Saturdays. Lamson had the
typical auctioneer's personality; and many good stories were
long related, illustrating his humor, wit and amusing im-
pudence by which he often disposed, even to his friends, of
almost worthless objects at high prices. A daughter Gertrude,
widely known as Lillian Nance O'Neill, never married; another
daughter, Lillian, is the wife of William Desmond, the actor.
In 1854, Congress made an appropriation of fifty thousand
dollars which went far toward opening up the trade that later
flourished between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City. This
money was for the survey and location of a wagon-road between
San Bernardino and the Utah capital; and on the first of May,
1855, Gilbert & Company established their Great Salt Lake
Express over that Government route. It was at first a pony
express, making monthly trips, carrying letters and stopping
at such stations as Coal Creek, Fillmore City, Summit Creek
and American Fork, and finally reaching Great Salt Lake; and
early having good Los Angeles connections, it prospered
sufficiently to substitute a wagon-service for the pony express.
Although this was at first intended only as a means of con-
necting the Mormon capital with the more recently-founded
Mormon settlement at San Bernardino, the extension of the
service to Los Angeles eventually made this city the terminus.
Considerable excitement was caused by the landing at San
156 Sixty Years in Southern California [iSssl
Pedro, in 1855, of a shipload of Mormons from Honolulu.
Though I do not recall that any more recruits came subse-
quently from that quarter, the arrival of these adherents of
Brigham Young added color to his explanation that he had es-
tabUshed a Mormon colony in CaHfornia, as a base of opera-
tions and supplies for converts from the Sandwich Islands.
Thomas Foster, a Kentuckian, was the sixth Mayor of Los
Angeles, taking office in May, 1855. He lived opposite Masonic
Hall on Main Street, with his family, among whom were some
charming daughters, and was in partnership with Dr. R. T.
Hayes, in Apothecaries' Hall near the Post Office. He was one
of the first Masons here and was highly esteemed ; and he early
declared himself in favor of better school and water facilities.
About the second week of June, 1855, appeared the first
Spanish newspaper in Los Angeles under the American regime.
It was called El Clamor P-UiUco, and made its appeal, socially,
to the better class of native Californians. Politically, it was
edited for Republicans, especially for the supporters, in 1856, of
Fremont for President. Its editor was Francisco P. Ramirez;
but though he was an able journalist and a good typo — becom-
ing, between i860 and 1862, State Printer in Sonora and, in 1865,
Spanish Translator for the State of California — the Clamor, on
December 31st, 1859, went the way of so many other local
journals.
CHAPTER XII
THE GREAT HORSE RACE
1855
FROM all accounts, Fourth of July was celebrated in Los
Angeles with more or less enthusiasm from the time of
the City's reorganization, although afterward, as we
shall see, the day was often neglected; but certainly in 1855 the
festivities were worthy of remembrance. There was less for-
mality, perhaps, and more cannonading than in later years;
music was furnished by a brass band from Fort Tejon; and
Phineas Banning was the stentorian "orator of the day."
Two years previously, Banning had provided a three days' cele-
bration and barbecue for the Fourth, attended by my brother;
and I once enjoyed a barbecue at San Juan Capistrano
where the merriment, continuing for half a week, marked
both the hospitality and the leisurely habits of the people. In
those days (when men were not afraid of noise) boys, in cele-
brating American Independence, made all the hullabaloo
possible, untrammeled by the nonsense of "a sane Fourth."
On the Fourth of July and other holidays, as well as on
Sundays, men from the country came to town, arrayed in their
fanciest clothes; and, mounted upon their most spirited and
gaily-caparisoned caballos de silla, or saddle-horses, they pa-
raded the streets, as many as ten abreast, jingling the metallic
parts of their paraphernalia, admired and applauded by the
populace, and keenly alive to the splendid appearance they
and their outfits made, and to the effect sure to be produced on
the fair senoritas. The most popular thoroughfare for this
157
158 Sixty Years in Southern California dsss
purpose was Main Street. On such occasions, the men wore
short, very tight-fitting jackets of bright-colored material —
blue, green and yellow being the favorite colors — and trim-
med with gold and silver lace or fringe. These jackets
were so tight that often the wearers put them on only with
great difficulty. The calzoneras, or pantaloons, were of the
same material as the jackets, open on the side and flanked with
brass buttons. The openings exposed the calzoncillos, or drawers.
A fashionable adjunct was the Mexican garter, often costing
ten to fifteen dollars, and another was the high-heeled boot, so
small that ten minutes or more were required to draw it on.
This boot was a great conceit; but though experiencing much
discomfort, the victim could not be induced to increase the size.
The serape, worn by men, was the native substitute for the
overcoat. It was a narrow, Mexican blanket of finest wool, mul-
ticolored and provided with a hole near the center large enough
to let the wearer's head through; and when not in actual use,
it was thrown over the saddle. The head-gear consisted in win-
ter of a broad-rimmed, high-crowned, woolen sombrero, usually
brown, which was kept in place during fast travel or a race by a
ribbon or band fastened under the chin ; often, as in the familiar
case of Ygnacio Lugo, the hat was ornamented with beads.
In summer, the rider substituted a shirt for the serape and
a Panama for the sombrero. The caballero's outfit, in the case
of some wealthy dons, exceeded a thousand dollars in value ; and
it was not uncommon for fancy costumes to be handed down
as heirlooms.
The women, on the other hand, wore skirts of silk, wool or
cotton, according to their wealth or the season. Many of the
female conceits had not appeared in 1853; the grandmothers of
the futiire suffragettes wore, instead of bonnets and hats, a
rebozo, or sort of scarf or muffler, which covered their heads
and shoulders and looked delightfully picturesque. To don this
gracefully was, in fact, quite an art. Many of the native
California ladies also braided their hair, and wore circular
combs around the back of their heads ; at least this was so until,
with the advent of a greater number of American women, their
iSssl The Great Horse Race 159
more modem, though less romantic, styles commenced to prevail,
when even the picturesque mantilla was discarded.
Noting these differences of dress in early days, I should not
forget to state that there were both American and Mexican
tailors here; among the former being one McCoy and his son,
merry companions whose copartnership carousals were pro-
verbial. The Mexican tailor had the advantage of knowing
just what the native requirements were, although in the course
of time his Gringo rival came to understand the tastes and pre-
judices of the paisano, and to obtain the better share of the
patronage. The cloth from which the caballero's outfit was
made could be found in most of the stores.
As with clothes and tailors, so it was with other articles of
apparel and those who manufactured them ; the natives had their
own shoe- and hat-makers, and their styles were unvarying.
The genuine Panami hat was highly prized and often copied ;
and Francisco Velardes — who used a grindstone bought of John
Temple in 1852, now in the County Museum — was one who
sold and imitated Panamas of the fifties. A product of the
bootmakers' skill were leathern leggings, worn to protect the
trousers when riding on horseback. The Gringos were then
given to copying the fashions of the natives; but as the
pioneer population increased, the Mexican came more and
more to adopt American styles.
Growing out of these exhibitions of horsemanship and of
the natives' fondness for display, was the rather important
industry of making Mexican saddles, in which quite a num-
ber of skilled paisanos were employed. Among the most ex-
pert was Francisco Moreno, who had a little shop on the
south side of Aliso Street, not far from Los Angeles. One of
these hand-worked saddles often cost two hundred dollars or
more, in addition to which expensive bridles, bits and spurs
were deemed necessary accessories. Antonio Maria Lugo had
a silver-mounted saddle, bridle and spurs that cost fifteen
hundred dollars.
On holidays and even Sundays, Upper Main Street — for-
merly called the Calle de las Virgenes, or Street of the Maids,
i6o Sixty Years in Southern California U^ss
later San Fernando Street — was the scene of horse races and
their attendant festivities, just as it used to be when money
or gold was especially plentiful, if one may judge from the
stories of those who were here in the prosperous year, 1850.
People from all over the county visited Los Angeles to
take part in the sport, some coming from mere c\u-iosity, but the
majority anxious to bet. Some money, and often a good deal of
stock changed hands, according to the success or failure of the
different favorites. It cannot be claimed, perhaps, that the
Mexican, like the Gringo, made a specialty of developing horse-
flesh to perfection ; yet Mexicans owned many of the fast horses,
such as Don Jose Sepiilveda's Sydney Ware and Black Swan,
and the Calif ornian Sarco belonging to Don Pio Pico.
The most celebrated of all these horse races of early days
was that between Jose Andres Sepulveda's Black Swan and
Pio Pico's Sarco, the details of which I learned, soon after I
came here, from Tom Mott. Sepulveda had imported the Black
Swan from Australia, in 1852, the year of the race, while Pico
chose a California steed to defend the honors of the day. Sepul-
veda himself went to San Francisco to receive the consignment
in person, after which he committed the thoroughbred into the
keeping of Bill Brady, the trainer, who rode him down to Los
Angeles, and gave him as much care as might have been be-
stowed upon a favorite child. They were to race nine miles, the
carrera commencing on San Pedro Street near the city limits,
and running south a league and a half and return; and the
reports of the preparation having spread throughout California,
the event came to be looked upon as of such great importance,
that, from San Francisco to San Diego, whoever had the money
hurried to Los Angeles to witness the contest and bet on the
result. Twenty-five thousand dollars, in addition to five
hundred horses, five hundred mares, five hiuidred heifers, five
hundred calves and five hundred sheep were among the princely
stakes put up; and the wife of Jose Andres was driven to the
scene of the memorable contest with a veritable fortune in
gold slugs wrapped in a large handkerchief. Upon arriving
there, she opened her improvised piirse and distributed the
i8s5l The Great Horse Race i6i
shining fifty-dollar pieces to all of her attendants and servants,
of whom there were not a few, with the injunction that they
should wager the money on the race; and her example was
followed by others, so that, in addition to the cattle, land and
merchandise hazarded, a considerable sum of money was bet by
the contending parties and their friends. The Black Swan
won easily. The peculiar character of some of the wagers re-
calls to me an instance of a later date when a native customer
of Louis Phillips tried to borrow a wagon, in order to bet the
same on a horse race. If the customer won, he was to return
the wagon at once ; but if he lost, he was to pay Phillips a certain
price for the vehicle.
Many kinds of amusements marked these festal occasions,
and bull-fights were among the diversions patronized by some
Angelenos, the Christmas and New Year holidays of 1854-55
being celebrated in that manner. I dare say that in earlier days
Los Angeles may have had its Plaza de Toros, as did the ancient
metropolis of the great country to the South ; but in the later
stages of the sport here, the toreador and his colleagues con-
ducted their contests in a gaudily-painted corral, in close
proximity to the Plaza. They were usually proclaimed as
professionals from Mexico or Spain, but were often engaged
for a livelihood, under another name, in a less dangerous and
romantic occupation near by. Admission was charged, and
some pretense to a grandstand was made; but through the
apertures in the fence of the corral those who did not pay
might, by dint of hard squinting, still get a peep at the
show. In this corral, in the fifties, I saw a fight between
a bear and a bull. I can still recollect the crowd, but I cannot
say which of the infuriated animals survived. Toward the
end of 1858, a bull-fight took place in the Calle de Toros, and
there was great excitement when a horse was instantly killed.
Cock-fights were also a very common form of popular
entertainment, and sports were frequently seen going around
the streets with fighting cocks under each arm. The fights
generally took place in Sonora Town, though now and then
they were held in San Gabriel. Mexicans carried on quite a
i62 Sixty Years in Southern California [1855
trade in game roosters among the patrons of this pastime, of
whom M. G. Santa Cruz was one of the best known. Some-
times, too, roosters contributed to still another brutal diversion
known as correr el gallo: their necks having been well greased,
they would be partially buried in the earth alongside a public
highway, when riders on fleet horses dashed by at full speed,
and tried to seize the fowls and pull them out ! This reminds
me of another game in which horsemen, speeding madly by a
succession of suspended, small rings, would try, by the skillful
handling of a long spear, to collect as many of the rings as
they could — a sport illustrated in one of the features of the
modern merr^'^-go-round.
The easy-going temperament of the native gave rise to many
an amusing incident. I once asked a woman, as we were discuss-
ing the coming marriage of her daughter, whom the dark-eyed
senorita was to marry; whereupon she replied, "I forget;"
and turning to her daughter, she asked: "iComo se llama?"
(What did you say was his name ?)
George Dalton bought a tract of land on Washington, east
of San Pedro Street, in 1855, and set out a vineyard and orchard
which he continued to cultivate until 1887, when he moved to
Walnut Avenue. Dalton was a Londoner who sailed from Liver-
pool on the day of Queen Victoria's coronation, to spend some
years wandering through Pennsylvania and Ohio. About 1851,
he followed to the Azusa district his brother, Henry Dalton, who
had previously been a merchant in Peru ; but, preferring the
embryo city to the country, he returned to Los Angeles to live.
Two sons, E. H. Dalton, City Water Overseer, in 1886-87, and
Winnall Travelly Dalton, the vineyardist, were offspring of
Dalton's first marriage. Elizabeth M., a daughter, married Wil-
liam H. Perry. Dalton Avenue is named after the Dalton family.
In another place I have spoken of the dearth of trees in the
town when I came, though the editor of the Star and others
had advocated tree-planting. This was not due to mere neglect;
there was prejudice against such street improvement. The
School Trustees had bought a dozen or more black locust-trees,
"at eight bits each," and planted them on the school lot at
»8ssl The Great Horse Race 163
Second and Spring streets. Drought and squirrels in 1855 at-
tacked the trees, and while the pedagogue went after the "var-
mints" with a shot-gun, he watered the trees from the school
barrel. The carrier, however, complained that drinking-water
was being wasted; and only after several rhetorical bouts was
the schoolmaster allowed to save what was already invested.
The locust-trees flourished until 1884, when they were hewn
down to make way for the City Hall.
Two partially-successful attempts were made, in 1855, to
introduce the chestnut-tree here. Jean Louis Sainsevain,
coming to Los Angeles in that year, brought with him some
seed; and this doubtless led Solomon Lazard to send back to
Bordeaux for some of the Italian variety. William Wolfskill,
who first brought here the persimmon-tree, took a few of the
seeds imported by Lazard and planted them near his home-
stead ; and a dozen of the trees later adorned the beautiful gar-
den of O. W. Childs who, in the following year, started some
black walnut seed obtained in New York. H. P. Dorsey was
also a pioneer walnut grower.
My brother's plans at this time included a European visit,
commencing in 1855 and lasting until 1856, during which trip,
in Germany, on November nth, 1855, he was married. After
his Continental tour, he returned to San Francisco and was
back in Los Angeles some time before 1857. On this European
voyage, my brother was entrusted with the care and delivery
of American Government documents. From London he car-
ried certain papers to the American Minister in Denmark; and
in furtherance of his mission, he was given the following intro-
duction and passport from James Buchanan, then Minister
Plenipotentiary to the Court of St. James and later President
of the United States :
No. 282 BEARER OF DESPATCHES
LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
AT LONDON.
To all to whom these presents shall come, Greeting ;
164 Sixty Years in Southern California [1855
Know Ye, that the bearer hereof, Joseph P. Newmark, Esq.,
is proceeding to Hamburgh and Denmark, bearing Despatches
from this Legation, to the United States' Legation at Copen-
hagen.
These are therefore to request all whom it may concern, to
permit him to pass freely without let or molestation, and to
extend to him such friendly aid and protection, as would be
extended to Citizens and Subjects of Foreign Countries, re-
sorting to the United States, bearing Despatches.
In testimony whereof, I, James Buchanan, Envoy Extra-
ordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, of the United States of
America, at London, have hereunto set my hand, and caused
the Seal of this Legation to be afifixed this Tenth day of July
A.D. 1855 and of the Independence of the United States the
Eightieth.
(Signed,)
(Seal of the Legation of the U. S.
of America to Great Britain.)
James Buchanan.
I have always accepted the fact of my brother's selection to
convey these documents as evidence that, in the few years since
his arrival in America, he had attained a position of some respon-
sibility. Aside from this, I am inclined to relate the experience
because it shows the then limited resources of our Federal
authorities abroad, especially as compared with their compre-
hensive facilities to-day, including their own despatch agents,
messengers and Treasury representatives scattered throughout
Europe.
A trip of Prudent Beaudry abroad about this time reminds
me that specialization in medical science was as unknown in early
Los Angeles as was specialization in business, and that persons
suffering from grave physical disorders frequently visited even
remoter points than San Francisco in search of relief. In 1855,
Beaudry's health having become seriously impaired, he went
to Paris to consult the famous oculist, Sichel ; but he received
little or no benefit. While in Europe, Beaudry visited the
Exposition of that year, and was one of the first Angelenos, I
suppose, to see a World's Fair.
i8s5] The Great Horse Race 165
These early tours to Europe by Temple, Beaudry and my
brother, and some of my own experiences, recall the changes
in the manner of bidding Los Angeles travelers bon-voyage.
Friends generally accompanied the tourist to the outlying
steamer, reached by a tug or lighter; and when the leave-taking
came, there were cheers, repetitions of adios and the waving of
hats and handkerchiefs, which continued until the steamer had
disappeared from view.
The first earthquake felt throughout California, of which I
have any recollection, occurred on July nth, 1855, somewhat
after eight o'clock in the evening, and was a most serious local
disturbance. Almost every structure in Los Angeles was dam-
aged, and some of the walls were left with large cracks. Near
San Gabriel, the adobe in which Hugo Reid's Indian wife dwelt
was wrecked, notwithstanding that it had walls four feet thick,
with great beams of lumber drawn from the mountains of San
Bernardino. In certain spots, the ground rose; in others, it fell;
and with the rising and falling, down came chimneys, shelves
full of salable stock or household necessities, pictures and even
parts of roofs, while water in barrels, and also in several of the
zanjas, bubbled and splashed and overflowed. Again, on the
14th of April, the 2d of May and the 20th of September of
the following year, we were alarmed by recurring and more or
less continuous shocks which, however, did little or no damage.
CHAPTER XIII
PRINCELY RANCHO DOMAINS
1855
OP the wonderful domains granted to the Spanish dons some
were still in the possession of their descendants ; some
had passed into the hands of the Argonauts ; but nothing
in the way of subdividing had been attempted. The private
ownership of Los Angeles County in the early fifties, therefore,
was distinguished by few holders and large tracts, one of the
most notable being that of Don Abel Stearns, who came here in
1829, and who, in his early adventures, narrowly escaped exile
or being shot by an irate Spanish governor. Eventually,
Stearns became the proud possessor of tens of thousands of
acres between San Pedro and San Bernardino, now covered
with cities, towns and hamlets. The site of the Long Beach
of to-day was but a small part of his Alamitos rancho, a portion
of the town also including some of the Cerritos acres of John
Temple. Los Coyotes, La Habra and San Juan Cajon de
Santa Ana were among the Stearns ranches advertised for sale
in 1869. Later, I shall relate how this Alamitos land came to
be held by Jotham Bixby and his associates.
Juan Temple owned the Los Cerritos rancho, consisting of
some twenty-seven thousand acres, patented on December 27th,
1867, but which, I have heard, he bought of the Nieto heirs in
the late thirties, building there the typical ranch-house, later
the home of the Bixbys and still a feature of the neighborhood.
Across the Cerritos Stockton's weary soldiers dragged their
way; and there, or near by, Carrillo, by driving wild horses
166
[iSssl Princely Rancho Domains 167
back and forth in confusion, and so creating a great noise and
dust, tricked Stockton into thinking that there were many-
more of the mounted enemy than he had at first supposed.
By 1853, Temple was estimated to be worth, in addition to his
ranches, some twenty thousand dollars. In i860, Los Cerritos
supported perhaps four thousand cattle and great flocks of
sheep; on a portion of the same ranch to-day, as I have
remarked. Long Beach stands.
Another citizen of Los Angeles who owned much property
when I came, and who lived upon his ranch, was Francis
Phinney Fisk Temple, one of the first Los Angeles supervisors,
a man exceptionally modest and known among his Spanish-
speaking friends as Templito, because of his five feet four stat-
ure. He came here, by way of the Horn, in 1841, when he was
but nineteen years of age, and for a while was in business with
his brother John. Marrying Senorita Antonia Margarita Work-
man, however, on September 30th, 1845, Francis made his home
at La Merced Ranch, twelve miles east of Los Angeles, in the
San Gabriel Valley, where he had a spacious and hospitable
adobe after the old Spanish style, shaped something like a JJ,
and about seventy by one hundred and ten feet in size. Around
this house, later destroyed by fire, Temple planted twenty acres
of fruit trees and fifty thousand or more vines, arranging the
whole in a garden partly enclosed by a fence — the exception
rather than the rule for even a country nabob of that time.
Templito also owned other ranches many miles in extent; but
misfortune overtook him, and by the nineties his estate pos-
sessed scarcely a single acre of land in either the city or the
county of Los Angeles ; and he breathed his last in a rude sheep
herder's camp in a corner of one of his famous properties.
Colonel Julian Isaac Williams, who died some three years
after I arrived, owned the celebrated Cucamonga and Chino
ranches. As early as 1842, after a nine or ten years' residence in
Los Angeles, Williams moved to the Rancho del Chino, which
included not merely the Santa Ana del Chino grant — some
twenty-two thousand acres originally given to Don Antonio
Maria Lugo, in 184 1 — but the addition of twelve to thirteen
168 Sixty Years in Southern California dsss
thousand acres, granted in 1843 to Williams (who became
Lugo's son-in-law) making a total of almost thirty-five thou-
sand acres. On that ranch Williams built a house famed far
and wide for its spaciousness and hospitality ; and it was at his
hacienda that the celebrated capture of B D. Wilson and
others was effected when they ran out of ammunition. Wil-
liams was liberal in assisting the needy, even despatching mes-
sengers to Los Angeles, on the arrival at his ranch of worn-out
and ragged immigrants, to secure clothing and other supplies for
them; and it is related that, on other occasions, he was known to
have advanced to young men capital amounting in the aggre-
gate to thousands of dollars, with which they established them-
selves in business. By 1851, Williams had amassed personal
property estimated to be worth not less than thirty-five thousand
dollars. In the end, he gave his ranchos to his daughters as
marriage-portions: the Chino to Francisca, or Mrs. Robert
Carlisle, who became the wife of Dr. F. A. McDougall, Mayor
in 1877-78, and, after his death, Mrs. Jesurun; and the Cuca-
monga to Maria Merced, or Mrs. John Rains, mother-in-law of
ex-Governor Henry T. Gage, who was later Mrs. Carrillo.
Benjamin Davis Wilson, or Benito Wilson, as he was usually
called, who owned a good part of the most beautiful land in the
San Gabriel Valley and who laid out the trail up the Sierra
Madre to Wilson's Peak, was one of our earliest settlers, having
come from Tennessee via New Mexico, in 1841. In June, 1846,
Wilson joined the riflemen organized against Castro, and in
1848, having been put in charge of some twenty men to protect
the San Bernardino frontier, he responded to a call from Isaac
Williams to hasten to the Chino rancho where, with his com-
patriots, he was taken prisoner. Somewhat earlier — I have
understood about 1844 — Wilson and Albert Packard formed
a partnership, but this was dissolved near the end of 1851.
In 1850, Wilson was elected County Clerk; and the following
year, he volunteered to patrol the hills and assist in watching
for Garra, the outlaw, the report of whose coming was terroriz-
ing the town. In 1853, he was Indian Agent for Southern Cali-
fornia. It must have been about 1849 that Wilson secured
.J^^f%,Ci
Maurice Kiemet
Solomon Lazaid
Mellus's, or Bell's Row
From a lithograph of 1858
|r?i i, . 1
William H. Workman and John King
Prudent Beaudry
James S. Mallard
John Behn
iSssl Princely Rancho Domains 169
control, for a while, of the Bella Union. His first wife was
Ramona Yorba, a daughter of Bernardo Yorba, whom he
married in February, 1844, and who died in 1849. On February
1st, 1853, Wilson married again, this time Mrs. Margaret S.
Hereford, a sister-in-law of Thomas S. Hereford; they spent
many years together at Lake Vineyard, where he became one
of the leading producers of good wine, and west of which he
planted some twenty-five or thirty thousand raisin grape
cuttings, and ten or twelve hundred orange trees, thus founding
Oak Knoll. I shall have occasion to speak of this gentleman
somewhat later. By the time that I came to know him, Wilson
had accumulated much real estate, part of his property being a
residence on Alameda Street, corner of Macy; but after a
while he moved to one of his larger estates, where stands the
present Shorb station named for his son-in-law and associate
J. De Barth Shorb, who also had a place known as Mountain
Vineyard. Don Benito died in March, 1878.
Colonel Jonathan Trumbull Warner, master of Warner's
Ranch, later the property of John G. Downey, and known —
from his superb stature of over six feet — both as Juan Jose
Warner and as Juan Largo, "Long John," retiurned to Los
Angeles in 1857. Warner had arrived in Southern California,
on December 5th, 1 831, at the age of twenty-eight, having come
West, from Connecticut, via Missouri and Salt Lake, partly
for his health, and partly to secure mules for the Louisiana
market. Like many others whom I have known, Warner did
not intend to remain; but illness decided for him, and in 1843
he settled in San Diego County, near the California border, on
what (later known as Warner's Ranch) was to become, with its
trail from old Sonora, historic ground. There, during the
fourteen years of his occupancy, some of the most stirring
episodes of the Mexican War occurred ; during one of which —
Ensign Espinosa's attack — Don Juan having objected to the
forcible searching of his house, he had his arm broken. There,
also, Antonio Garra and his lawless band made their assault,
and were repulsed by Long John, who escaped on horseback,
leaving in his wake four or five dead Indians. For this, and
170 Sixty Years in Southern California [1855
not for military service, Warner was dubbed Colonel ; nor was
there anyone who cared to dispute his right to the title. In
1837, Juan married Miss Anita Gale, an adopted daughter of
Don Pio Pico, and came to Los Angeles; but the following year,
Mrs. Warner died. Warner once ran against E. J. C. Kewen
for the Legislature but, after an exceedingly bitter campaign,
was beaten. In 1874 Warner was a notary pubHc and Span-
ish-English interpreter. For many years his home was in an
orchard occupying the site of the Burbank Theater on Main
Street. Warner was a man of character and lived to a venerable
age; and after a decidedly arduous life he had more than his
share of responsibility and affliction, even losing his sight
in his declining years.
William Wolfskill, who died on October 3d, 1866, was another
pioneer well-established long before I had even thought of Cal-
ifornia. Born in Kentucky at the end of the Eighteenth Cen-
tury— of a family originally of Teutonic stock (if we may credit
a high German authority) traced back to a favorite soldier of
Frederick the Great — Wolfskill in 1830 came to Los Angeles,
for a short time, with Ewing Young, the noted beaver-trapper.
Then he acquired several leagues of land in Yolo and Solano
counties, sharing what he had with his brothers, John and Mateo.
Later he sold out, returned to Los Angeles, and bought and
stocked the rancho Lomas de Santiago, which he afterward dis-
posed of to Flint, Bixby & Company. He also bought of Corbitt,
Dibblee & Barker the Santa Anita rancho (comprising between
nine and ten thousand acres), and some twelve thousand be-
sides; the Santa Anita he gave to his son, Louis, who later sold
it for eighty-five thousand dollars. Besides this, Wolfskill ac-
quired title to a part of the rancho San Francisquito, on which
Newhall stands, disposing of that, however, during the first oil
excitement, to the Philadelphia Oil Company, at seventy-five
cents an acre — a good price at that time. Before making these
successful realty experiments, this hero of desert hardships had
assisted to build, soon after his arrival here, one of the first ves-
sels ever constructed and launched in California — a schooner
fitted out at San Pedro to hunt for sea otter. In January, 1841,
i855l Princely Rancho Domains 171
Wolfskill married Dona Magdalena Lugo, daughter of Don Jose
Ygnacio Lugo, of Santa Barbara. A daughter, Senorita Magda-
lena, in 1865 married Frank Sabichi, a native of Los Angeles,
who first saw the light of day in 1842. Sabichi, by the way,
always a man of importance in this community, is the son
of Mateo and Josefa Franco Sabichi (the mother, a sister
of Antonio Franco Coronel), buried at San Gabriel Mission.
J. E. Pleasants, to whom I elsewhere refer, first made a
good start when he formed a partnership with Wolfskill in a
cattle deal.
Concerning Mateo, I recall an interesting illustration of
early fiscal operations. He deposited thirty thousand dollars
with S. Lazard & Company and left it there so long that they
began to think he would never come back for it. He did return,
however, after many years, when he presented a certificate of
deposit and withdrew the money. This transaction bore no
interest, as was often the case in former days. People de-
posited money with friends in whom they had confidence, not
for the purpose of profit but simply for safety.
Elijah T. Moulton, a Canadian, was one of the few pioneers
who preceded the Forty-niners and was permitted to see Los
Angeles well on its way toward metropolitan standing. In
1844 he had joined an expedition to California organized by
Jim Bridger; and having reached the Western country, he
volunteered to serve under Fremont in the Mexican campaign.
There the hardships which Moulton endured were far severer
than those which tested the grit of the average emigrant; and
Moulton in better days often told how, when nearly driven to
starvation, he and a comrade had actually used a remnant of
the Stars and Stripes as a seine with which to fish, and so saved
their lives. About 1850, Moulton was Deputy Sheriff under
George T. Bturill ; then he went to work for Don Louis Vignes.
Soon afterward, he bought some land near William WolfskiU's,
and in 1855 took charge of WoLfskill's property. This resulted
in his marriage to one of WolfskiU's daughters, who died in
1861. In the meantime, he had acquired a hundred and fifty
acres or more in what is now East Los Angeles, and was thus
172 Sixty Years in Southern California IiSss
one of the first to settle in tliat section. He had a dairy, for a
while, and peddled milk from a can or two carried in a wagon.
Afterward, Moulton became a member of the City Council.
William Workman and John Rowland, father of William
or Billy Rowland, resided in 1853 on La Puente rancho, which
was granted them Jvily 22d, 1845, some four years after they had
arrived in California. They were leaders of a party from New
Mexico, of which B. D. Wilson, Lemuel Carpenter and others
were members ; and the year following they operated with Pico
against Micheltorena and Sutter, Workman serving as Captain,
and Rowland as Lieutenant, of a company of volunteers they
had organized. The ranch, situated about twenty miles east of
Los Angeles, consisted of nearly forty-nine thousand acres,
and had one of the first brick residences erected in this neigh-
borhood. Full title to this splendid estate was confirmed by the
United States Government in April, 1867, a couple of years
before Workman and Rowland, with the assistance of Cameron
E. Thom, divided their property. Rowland, who in 1851 was
supposed to own some twenty-nine thousand acres and about
seventy thousand dollars' worth of personal property, further
partitioned his estate, three or four years before his death in
1873, among his nearest of kin, giving to each heir about three
thousand acres of land and a thousand head of cattle. One
of these heirs, the wife of General Charles Forman, is the half-
sister of Billy Rowland by a second marriage.
John Reed, Rowland's son-in-law, was also a large land-
proprietor. Reed had fallen in with Rowland in New Mexico,
and while there married Rowland's daughter, Nieves ; and when
Rowland started for California, Reed came with him and
together they entered into ranching at La Puente, finding
artesian water there, in 1859. Thirteen years before, Reed
was in the American army and took part in the battles fought
on the march from San Diego to Los Angeles. After his death
on the ranch in 1874, his old homestead came into possession
of John Rowland's son, William, who often resided there; and
Rowland, later discovering oil on his land, organized the Puente
Oil Company.
iSssl Princely RancJw Domains 173
Juan Forster, an Englishman, possessed the Santa Mar-
garita rancho, which he had taken up in 1864, some years
after he married Dona Ysidora Pico. She was a sister of Pio
and Andres Pico, and there, as a result of that alliance, General
Pico found a safe retreat while fleeing from Fremont into Lower
California. Forster for a while was a seaman out of San Pedro.
When he went to San Juan Capistrano, where he became a
sort of local Alcalde and was often called Don San Juan or even
San Juan Capistrano, he experimented with raising stock and
became so successful as a ranchero that he remained there
twenty years, during which time he acquired a couple of other
ranches, in San Diego and Los Angeles counties, comprising
quite sixty thousand acres. Forster, however, was compara-
tively land-poor, as may be inferred from the fact that even
though the owner of such a princely territory, he was assessed
in 1 85 1 on but thirteen thousand dollars in personal property.
Later Don Juan lorded it over twice as much land in the
ranches of Santa Margarita and Las Flores. His fourth son,
a namesake, married Senorita Josefa del Valle, daughter of Don
Ygnacio del Valle.
Manuel, Pedro, Nasario and Victoria Dominguez owned in
the neighborhood of forty-eight thousand acres of the choicest
land in the South. More than a century ago, Juan Jose
Dominguez received from the King of Spain ten or eleven
leagues of land, known as the Rancho de San Pedro; and this
was given by Governor de Sola, after Juan Jose's death in 1822,
to his brother, Don Cristobal Dominguez, a Spanish officer.
Don Cristobal married a Mexican commissioner's daugh-
ter, and one of their ten children was Manuel, who, educated
by wide reading and fortunate in a genial temperament and
high standard of honor, became an esteemed and popular
officer under the Mexican regime, displaying no little chivalry
in the battle of Dominguez fought on his own property. On the
death of his father, Don Manuel took charge of the Rancho de
San Pedro (buying out his sister Victoria's interest of twelve
thousand acres, at fifty cents an acre) until in 1855 it was
partitioned between himself, his brother, Don Pedro and two
174 Sixty Years in Southern California [185s
nephews, Jose Antonio Aguirre and Jacinto Rocha. One daugh-
ter, Victoria, married George Carson in 1857. -^^ his death, in
1882, Dominguez bequeathed to his heirs twenty odd thousand
acres, including Rattlesnake Island in San Pedro Bay. James A.
Watson, an early -comer, married a second daughter; John F.
Francis married a third, and Dr. del Amo married a fourth.
Henry Dalton, who came here sometime before 1845,
having been a merchant in Peru, owned the Azusa Ranch of
over four thousand acres, the patent to which was finally issued
in 1876, and also part of the San Francisquito Ranch of eight
thousand acres, allowed him somewhat later. Besides these,
he had an interest, with Ygnacio Palomares and Ricardo Vejar,
in the San Jose rancho of nearly twenty-seven thousand acres.
As early as the twenty -first of May, 1851, Dalton, with keen
foresight, seems to have published a plan for the subdivision of
nine or ten thousand acres into lots to suit limited ranchers ; but
it was some time before Duarte and other places, now on the
above-mentioned estates, arose from his dream. On a part of his
property, Azusa, a town of the Boom period, was founded some
twenty-two miles from Los Angeles, and seven or eight hundred
feet up the Azusa slope ; and now other towns also flourish near
these attractive foothills. One of Dalton's daughters was
given in marriage to Louis, a son of William Wolfskill. Dal-
ton's brother, George, I have already mentioned as having Uke-
wise settled here.
Of all these worthy dons, possessing vast landed estates,
Don Antonio Maria Lugo, brother of Ygnacio Lugo, was one of
the most affluent and venerable. He owned the San Antonio
rancho, named I presume after him; and in 1856, when he
celebrated his seventy-fifth birthday, was reputed to be the
owner of fully twenty-nine thousand acres and personal
property to the extent of seventy-two thousand dollars. Three
sons, Jose Maria, Jose del Carmen and Vicente Lugo, as early
as 1842 also acquired in their own names about thirty-seven
thousand acres.
Louis Robidoux, a French- American of superior ability who,
like many others, had gone through much that was exciting
Louis Robidoux
Julius G. Weyse
John Behn
Louis Breer
William J. Brodrick
Isaac R. Dunkelberger
Frank J. Carpenter
Augustus Ulyard
i8s5l Princely Rancho Domains 175
and unpleasant to establish himself in this wild, open country,
eventually had an immense estate known as the Jurupa rancho,
from which on September 26th, 1846, during the Mexican War,
B. D. Wilson and others rode forth to be neatly trapped and
captured at the Chino; and where the outlaw Irving later
encamped. Riverside occupies a site on this land; and the
famous Robidoux hill, usually spoken of as the Roubidoux
mountain, once a part of Louis's ranch and to-day a Mecca for
thousands of tourists, was named after him.
Many of the rancheros kept little ranch stores, from which
they sold to their employees. This was rather for convenience
than for profit. When their help came to Los Angeles, they
generally got drunk and stayed away from work longer than
the allotted time; and it was to prevent this, as far as possible,
that these outlying stores were conducted.
Louis Robidoux maintained such a store for the accommo-
dation of his hands, and often came to town, sometimes for
several days, on which occasions he woiild buy very liberally
anything that happened to take his fancy. In this respect he
occasionally acted without good judgment, and if opposed would
become all the more determined. Not infrequently he called
for so large a supply of some article that I was constrained to
remark that he could not possibly need so much ; whereupon he
would repeat the order with angry emphasis. I sometimes
visited his ranch and recall, in particular, one stay of two or
three days there in 1857 when, after an unusually large pur-
chase, Robidoux asked me to assist him in checking up the in-
voices. The cases were unpacked in his ranchhouse; and I
have never forgotten the amusing picture of the numerous little
Robidoux, digging and delving among the assorted goods for
all the prizes they could find, and thus rendering the process of
listing the goods much more difficult. When the delivery had
been found correct, Robidoux turned to his Mexican wife and
asked her to bring the money. She went to the side of the room,
opened a Chinese trunk such as every well-to-do Mexican f amiily
had (and sometimes as many as half a dozen) , and drew there-
from the customary buckskin, from which she extracted the
176 Sixty Years in Southern California [iSss
required and rather large amount. These trunks were made of
cedar, were gaudily painted, and had the quality of keeping
out moths. They were, therefore, displayed with pride by the
owners. Recently on turning the pages of some ledgers in
which Newmark, Kremer & Company carried the account of
this famous ranchero, I was interested to find there full con-
firmation of what I have elsewhere claimed — that the now
renowned Frenchman spelled the first syllable of his name Ro-,
and not Ru-, nor yet Rou-, as it is generally recorded in books
and newspapers.
I should refrain from mentioning a circumstance or two in
Robidoux's life with which I am familiar but for the fact that
I believe posterity is ever curious to know the little failings as
well as the pronounced virtues of men who, through exceptional
personality or association, have become historic characters;
and that some knowledge of their foibles should not tarnish
their reputation. Robidoux, as I have remarked, came to town
very frequently, and when again he found himself amid livelier
scenes and congenial fellows, as in the late fifties, he always
celebrated the occasion with a few intimates, winding up his
befuddling bouts in the arms of Chris Fluhr, who winked at
his weakness and good-naturedly tucked him away in one of
the old-fashioned beds of the Lafayette Hotel, there to remain
until he was able to transact business. After all, such celebrat-
ing was then not at all uncommon among the best of Southern
California people, nor, if gossip may be credited, is it entirely
unknown to-day. Robert Hornbeck, of Redlands, by the way,
has sought to perpetuate this pioneer's fame in an illustrated
volume, Roubidoux's Ranch in the yo's, published as I am
closing my story.
Robidoux's name leads me to recur to early judges and to
his identification with the first Court of Sessions here, when
there was such a sparseness even of rancherias. Robidoux then
lived on his Jurupa domain, and not having been at the meeting
of township justices which selected himself and Judge Scott
to sit on the bench, and enjoying but infrequent communica-
tion with the more peopled districts of Southern California, he
i8s5] Princely Rancho Domains 177
knew nothing of the outcome of the election until sometime
after it had been called. More than this, Judge Robidoux never
actually participated in a sitting of the Court of Sessions until
four or five weeks after it had been almost daily transacting
business !
Speaking of ranches, and of the Jurupa in particular, I may
here reprint an advertisement — a miniature tree and a house
heading the following announcement in the Southern Calijor-
nian of June 20th, 1855 :
The Subscriber, being anxious to get away from Swindlers,
offers for sale one of the very finest ranchos, or tracts of land,
that is to be found in California, known as the Rancho de
Jurupa, Santa Ana River, in the Coimty of San Bernardino.
Bernardo Yorba was another great landowner; and I am
sure that, in the day of his glory, he might have traveled fifty
to sixty miles in a straight line, touching none but his own
possessions. His ranches, on one of which Pio Pico hid from
Santiago Arguello, were delightfully located where now stand
such places as Anaheim, Orange, Santa Ana, Westminster,
Garden Grove and other towns in Orange County — then a
part of Los Angeles County.
This leads me to describe a shrewd trick. Schlesinger C:
Sherwinsky, traders in general merchandise in 1853, when
they bought a wagon in San Francisco, brought it here by
steamer, loaded it with various attractive wares, took it out
to good-natured and easy-going Bernardo Yorba, and wheedled
the well-known ranchero into purchasing not only the contents,
but the wagon, horses and harness as well. Indeed, their in-
genuity was so well rewarded, that soon after this first lucky
hit, they repeated their success, to the discomfiture of their
competitors; and if I am not mistaken, they performed the
same operation on the old don several times.
The Verdugo family had an extensive acreage where such
towns as Glendale now enjoy the benefit of recent suburban
development. Governor Pedro Pages having granted, as early
as 1784, some thirty-six thousand acres to Don Jose Maria
178 Sixty Years in Southern California [isss
Verdugo, which grant was reaffirmed in 1798, thereby affording
the basis of a patent issued in 1882, to JuHo Verdugo et al,
although Verdugo died in 1858. To this Verdugo rancho,
Fremont sent Jesus Pico — the Mexican guide whose life he had
spared, as he was about to be executed at San Luis Obispo —
to talk with the Californians and to persuade them to deal
with Fremont instead of Stockton; and there on February 21st,
1845, Micheltorena and Castro met. Near there also, still
later, the celebrated Casa Verdugo entertained for many years
the epicures of Southern California, becoming one of the best-
known restaurants for Spanish dishes in the State. Little by
little, the Verdugo family lost all their property, partly through
their refusal or inability to pay taxes ; so that by the second
decade of the Twentieth Century the surviving representa-
tives, including Victoriano and Guillermo Verdugo, were re-
duced to poverty. '
Recalling Verdugo and his San Rafael Ranch let me add
that he had thirteen sons, all of whom frequently accompan-
ied their father to town, especially on election day. On those
occasions, J. Lancaster Brent, whose political influence with
the old man was supreme, took the Verdugo party in hand and
distributed, through the father, fourteen election tickets, on
which were impressed the names of Brent's candidates.
Manuel Garfias, County Treasurer a couple of years before
I came, was another land-baron, owning in his own name some
thirteen or fourteen thousand acres of the San Pasqual Ranch.
There, among the picturesque hills and valleys where both
Pico and Flores had military camps, now flourish the cities
of Pasadena and South Pasadena, which include the land where
stood the first house erected on the ranch. It is my impression
that beautiful Altadena is also on this land.
Ricardo Vejar, another magnate, had an interest in a wide
area of rich territory known as the San Jose Ranch. Not less
than twenty-two thousand acres made up this rancho which, as
early as 1837, had been granted by Governor Alvarado to Vejar
'Julio Chrisostino Verdugo died early ia March, 1915, supposed to be about
one hundred and twelve years old.
i8s5l Princely Rancho Domains i79
and Ygnacio Palomares who died on November25th, 1864. Two
or three years later, Luis Arenas joined the two, and Alvarado
renewed his grant, tacking on a league or two of San Jose land
lying to the West and nearer the San Gabriel mountains.
Arenas, in time, disposed of his interest to Henry Dalton ; and
Dalton joined Vejar in applying to the courts for a partitioning
of the estate. This division was ordered by the Spanish Alcalde
six or seven years before my arrival; but Palomares still ob-
jected to the decision, and the matter dragged along in the
tribunals many years, the decree finally being set aside by the
Court. Vejar, who had been assessed in 1851 for thirty -four
thousand dollars' worth of personal property, sold his share of
the estate for twenty-nine thousand dollars, in the spring of
1874. It is a curious fact that not until the San Jose rancho had
been so cut up that it was not easy to trace it back to the origi-
nal grantees, did the authorities at Washington finally issue a
patent to Dalton, Palomares and Vejar for the twenty-two
thousand acres which originally made up the ranch.
The Machados, of whom there were several brothers-
Don Agustin, who died on May 17th, 1865, being the head of
the family — had title to nearly fourteen thousand acres.
Their ranch, originally granted to Don Ygnacio Machado in
1839 and patented in 1873, was known as La Ballona and
extended from the city limits to the ocean; and there, among
other stock, in i860, were more than two thousand head of
cattle.
The Picos acquired much territory. There were two broth-
ers— Pio, who as Mexican Governor had had wide supervision
over land, and Andres, who had fought throughout the San
Pasqual campaigns until the capitulation at Cahuenga, and
still later had dashed with spirit across country in pursuit of
the murderers of Sheriff Barton. Pio Pico alone, in 1851, was
assessed for twenty-two thousand acres as well as twenty-one
thousand dollars in personal property. Besides controlling
various San Fernando ranches (once under B. H. Lancaro's
management) , Andres Pico possessed La Habra, a ranch of over
six thousand acres, for which a patent was granted in 1872, and
i8o Sixty Years in Southern California [iSss
the ranch Los Coyotes, including over forty-eight thousand
acres, patented three years later; while Pio Pico at one time
owned the Santa Margarita and Las Flores ranches, and had,
in addition, some nine thousand acres known as Paso de Bar-
tolo. In his old age the Governor — who, as long as I knew him,
had been strangely loose in his business methods, and had bor-
rowed from everybody — found himself under the necessity of
obtaining some thirty or forty thousand dollars, even at the
expense of giving to B. Cohn, W. J. Brodrick and Charles
Prager, a blanket mortgage covering all of his properties.
These included the Pico House, the Pico Ranch on the other
side of the San Gabriel River — the homestead on which has for
some time been preserved by the ladies of Whittier — and prop-
erty on Main Street, north of Commercial, besides some other
holdings. When his note fell due Pico was unable to meet it;
and the mortgage was foreclosed. The old man was then left
practically penniless, a suit at law concerning the interpreta-
tion of the loan-agreement being decided against him.
Henry C. Wiley must have arrived very early, as he had
been in Los Angeles some years before I came. He married
a daughter of Andres Pico and for a while had charge of his
San Fernando Ranch. Wiley served, at one time, as Sheriff
of the County. He died in 1898.
The rancho Los Nietos or, more properly speaking, perhaps,
the Santa Gertrudis, than whose soil (watered, as it is, by the
San Gabriel River) none more fertile can be found in the world,
included indeed a wide area extending between the Santa Ana
and San Gabriel rivers, and embracing the ford known as
Pico Crossing. It was then in possession of the Carpenter
family, Lemuel Carpenter having bought it from the heirs of
Manuel Nieto, to whom it had been granted in 1784. Carpen-
ter came from Missouri to this vicinity as early as 1833, when
he was but twenty-two years old. For a while, he had a small
soap-factory on the right bank of the San Gabriel River, after
which he settled on the ranch ; and there he remained until No-
vember 6th, 1859, when he committed suicide. Within the bor-
ders of this ranch to-day lie such places as Downey and Rivera.
isssl Princely Rancho Domains i8i
Francisco Sanchez was another early ranchero — probably
the same who figured so prominently in early San Francisco;
and it is possible that J. M. Sanchez, to whom, in 1859, was re-
granted the forty -four hundred acres of the Potrero Grande,
was his heir.
There were two large and important landowners, second
cousins, known as Jose Sepulveda; the one, Don Jose Andres,
and the other, Don Jose Loreto. The father of Jose Andres
was Don Francisco Sepulveda, a Spanish officer to whom the
San Vicente Ranch had been granted; and Jose Andres, born in
San Diego in 1804, was the oldest of eleven children. His
brothers were Fernando, Jose del Carmen, Dolores and Juan
Maria; and he also had six sisters. To Jose Andres, or Jose as
he was called, the San Joaquin Ranch was given, an enormous
tract of land lying between the present Tustin, earlier known
as Tustin City, and San Juan Capistrano, and running from the
hills to the sea; while, on the death of Don Francisco, the San
Vicente Ranch, later bought by Jones and Baker, was left to
Jose del Carmen, Dolores and Juan Maria. Jose, in addition,
bought eighteen hundred acres from Jose Antonio Yorba, and
on this newly-acquired property he btailt his ranchhouse, al-
though he and his family may be said to have been more or
less permanent residents of Los Angeles. Fernando Sepulveda
married a Verdugo, and through her became proprietor of much
of the Verdugo rancho. The fact that Jose was so well provided
for, and that Fernando had come into control of the Verdugo
acres, made it mutually satisfactory that the San Vicente Ranch
should have been willed to the other sons. The children of Jose
Andres included Miguel, Mauricio, Bernabe, Joaquin, Andro-
nico and Ygnacio, and Francisca, wife of James Thompson,
Tomasa, wife of Frank Rico, Ramona, wife of Captain Salis-
bury Haley of the Sea Bird, Ascencion, wife of Tom Mott, and
Tranquilina. The latter, with Mrs. Mott and Judge Ygnacio,
are still living here.
Don Jose Loreto, brother of Juan and Diego Sepulveda,
father of Mrs. John T. Lanfranco, and a well-known resident
of Los Angeles County in early days, presided over the destinies
1 82 Sixty Years in Southern California [iSss
of thirty-one thousand acres in the Palos Verdes rancho, where
Flores had stationed his soldiers to watch the American ship
Savannah. Full patent to this land was granted in 1880.
There being no fences to separate the great ranches, cattle
roamed at will; nor were the owners seriously concerned, for
every man had his distinct, registered brand and in proper
season the various herds were segregated by means of rodeos,
or round-ups of strayed or mixed cattle. On such occasions,
all of the rancheros within a certain radius drove their herds
little by little into a corral designated for the purpose, and each
selected his own cattle according to brand. After segregation
had thus been effected, they were driven from the corral,
followed by the calves, which were also branded, in anticipation
of the next rodeo.
Such round-ups were great events, for they brought all the
rancheros and vaqueros together. They became the raison d'etre
of elaborate celebrations, sometimes including horse-races, bull-
fights and other amusements ; and this was the case particularly
in 1861, because of the rains and consequent excellent season.
The enormous herds of cattle gathered at rodeos remind me,
in fact, of a danger that the rancheros were obliged to contend
with, especially when driving their stock from place to place:
Indians stampeded the cattle, whenever possible, so that in the
confusion those escaping the vaqueros and straggling behind
might the more easily be driven to the Indian camps; and
sometimes covetous ranchmen caused a similar commotion
among the stock in order to make thieving easier.
While writing of ranches, one bordering on the other, un-
fenced and open, and the enormous number of horses and
cattle, as well as men required to take care of such an
amount of stock, I must not forget to mention an institution
that had flourished, as a branch of the judiciary, in palmier
Mexican days, though it was on the wane when I arrived here.
This was the Judgeship of the Plains, an office charged directly
with the interests of the ranchman. Judges of the Plains were
officials delegated to arrange for the rodeos, and to hold informal
court, in the saddle or on the open hillside, in order to settle
i8s5] Princely Rancho Domains 183
disputes among, and dispense justice to, those living and work-
ing beyond the pales of the towns. Under Mexican rule, a
Judge of the Plains, who was more or less a law unto himself,
served for glory and dignity (much as does an English Justice
of the Peace) ; and the latter factor was an important part of the
stipulation, as we may gather from a story told by early Ange-
lefios of the impeachment of Don Antonio Maria Lugo. Don
Antonio was then a Judge of the Plains, and as such was
charged with having, while on horseback, nearly trampled upon
Pedro Sanchez, for no other reason than that poor Pedro had
refused to "uncover" while the Judge rode by, and to keep his
hat off until his Honor was unmistakably out of sight! When,
at length, Americans took possession of Southern California,
Judges of the Plains were given less power, and provision was
made, for the first time, for a modest honorarium in return for
their travel and work.
For nearly a couple of decades after the organization of Los
Angeles under the incoming white pioneers, not very much was
known of the vast districts inland and adjacent to Southern
California; and one can well understand the interest felt by
our citizens on July 17th, 1855, when ColonelWashington,of the
United States Surveying Expedition to the Rio Colorado, put
up at the Bella Union on his way to San Francisco. He was
bombarded v/ith questions about the region lying between the
San Bernardino Mountain range and the Colorado, hitherto
unexplored; and being a good talker, readily responded with
much entertaining information.
In July, 1855, I attained my majority and, having by this
time a fair command of English, I took a more active part in
social affairs. Before he married Margarita, daughter of Juan
Bandini, Dr. J. B. Winston, then interested in the Bella Union,
organized most of the dances, and I was one of his committee
of arrangements. We would collect from the young men of our
acquaintance money enough to pay for candles and music ; for
each musician — playing either a harp, a guitar or a flute — ■
charged from a dollar to a dollar and a half for his services.
Formal social events occurred in the evening of almost any day
i84 Sixty Years in Southern California [iSss
of the week. Whenever Dr. Winston or the young gallants
of that period thought it was time to have a dance, they just
passed around the hat for the necessary funds, and announced
the affair. Ladies were escorted to functions, although we did
not take them in carriages or other vehicles but tramped
through the dust or mud. Young ladies, however, did not
go out with gentlemen unless they were accompanied by a
chaperon, generally some antiquated female member of the
family.
These hops usually took place at the residence of Widow
Blair, opposite the Bella Union and north of the present Post
Office. There we could have a sitting-room, possibly eighteen
by thirty feet square ; and while this was larger than any other
room in a private house in town, it will be realized that, after
all, the space for dancing was very limited. We made the
best, however, of what we had ; the refreshments, at these impro-
vised affairs, were rarely more than lemonade and olla water.
Many times such dances followed as a natural termination
to another social observance, transmitted to us, I have no doubt,
by the romantic Spanish settlers here, and very poptilar for
some time after I came. This good old custom was serenading.
We would collect money, as if for dancing; and in the even-
ing a company of young men and chaperoned young ladies
would proceed in a body to some popiilar girl's home where,
with innocent gallantry, the little band would serenade her.
After that, of course, we were always glad to accept an
invitation to come into the house, when the ladies of the house-
hold sometimes regaled us with a bit of cake and wine.
Speaking of the social life of those early days, when
warm, stimulating friendships and the lack of all foolish caste
distinctions rendered the occasions delightfully pleasant,
may it not be well to ask whether the contrast between
those simple, inexpensive pleasures, and the elaborate and
extravagant demands of modern society, is not worth sober
thought? To be sure, Los Angeles then was exceedingly small,
and pioneers here were much like a large family in plain, un-
pretentious circumstances. There were no such ceremonies
i85s] Princely Rancho Domains 185
as now; there were no four hundred, no three hundred, nor
even one hundred. There was, for example, no flunky at the
door to receive the visitor's card ; and for the very good reason
that visiting cards were unknown. In those pastoral, pueblo
days it was no indiscretion for a friend to walk into an-
other friend's house without knocking. Society of the early
days could be divided, I suppose, into two classes: the respect-
able and the evil element; and people who were honorable
came together because they esteemed each other and liked one
another's company. The "gold fish" of the present age had
not yet developed. We enjoyed ourselves together, and without
distinction were ready to fight to the last ditch for the protec-
tion of our families and the preservation of our homes.
In the fall of 1855, Dr. Thomas J. White, a native of St.
Louis and Speaker of the Assembly in the first California
Legislature convened at San Jose, in December, 1849, arrived
from San Francisco with his wife and two daughters, and
bought a vineyard next to Dr. Hoover's ten-acre place where,
in three or four years, he became one of the leading wine-
producers. Their advent created quite a stir, and the house,
which was a fine and rather commodious one for the times, soon
became the scene of extensive entertainments. The addition
of this highly-accomplished family was indeed quite an
accession to our social ranks. Their hospitality compared
favorably even with California's open-handed and open-
hearted spirit, and soon became notable. Their evening parties
and other receptions were both frequent and lavish, so that the
Whites quickly took rank as leaders in Los Angeles. While
yet in Sacramento, one of the daughters, who had fallen in love
with E. J. C. Kewen when the latter was a member of the
White party in crossing the great Plains, married the Colonel;
and in 1862, another daughter. Miss Jennie, married Judge
Murray Morrison. A son was T. Jeff White, who named his
place Casalinda. In the late fifties. Dr. White had a drug-store
in the Temple Building on Main Street.
It was long before Los Angeles had anything like a regular
theater, or even enjoyed such shows as were provided by
i86 Sixty Years in Southern California bsss
itinerant companies, some of which, when they did begin to
come, stayed here for weeks; although I remember having
heard of one ambitious group of players styling themselves
The Rough and Ready Theater, who appeared here very early
and gave siifficient satisfaction to elicit the testimony from a
local scribe, that "when Richmond was conquered and laid
off for dead, the enthusiastic auditors gave the King a smile of
decided approval!" Minstrels and circuses were occasionally
presented, a minstrel performance taking place sometime in the
fifties, in an empty store on Aliso Street, near Los Angeles.
About the only feature of this event that is now clear in my
memory is that Bob Carsley, played the bones; he remained
in Los Angeles and married, later taking charge of the foundry
which Stearns established when he built his Arcadia Block on
Los Angeles Street. An Albino also was once brought to Los
Angeles and publicly exhibited; and since anything out of the
ordinary challenged attention, everybody went to see a curiosity
that to-day would attract but little notice. Speaking of theatri-
cal performances and the applause bestowed upon favorites,
I must not forget to mention the reckless use of money and the
custom, at first quite astounding to me, of throwing coins —
often large, shining slugs — upon the stage or floor, if an actor
or actress particularly pleased the spendthrift patron.
In October, 1855, William Abbott, who was one of the
many to come to Los Angeles in 1853, and who had brought
with him a small stock of furniture, started a store in a little
wooden house he had acquired on a lot next to that which
later became the site of the Pico House. Abbott married
Dona Merced Garcia; and good fortune favoring him, he not
only gradually enlarged his stock of goods, but built a more
commodious building, in the upper story of which was the
Merced Theater, named after Abbott's wife, and opened in the
late sixties. The vanity of things mundane is well illustrated
in the degeneration of this center of early histrionic effort,
which entered a period of decay in the beginning of the eighties
and, as the scene of disreputable dances, before 1890 had
been pronounced a nuisance.
i8s5] Princely Rancho Domains 187
During the first decade under the American regime, Los
Angeles gradually learned the value of reaching toward the
outside world and welcoming all who responded. In 1855, as
I have said, a brisk trade was begun with Salt Lake, through
the opening up of a route — leading along the old Spanish
trail to Santa Fe. Banning & Alexander, with their usual enter-
prise, together with W. T. B. Sanford, made the first shipment
in a heavily-freighted train of fifteen wagons drawn by one
hundred and fifty mules. The train, which carried thirty tons,
was gone four months ; having left Los Angeles in May, it re-
turned in September. In every respect the experiment was
a success, and naturally the new route had a beneficial effect
on Southern California trade. It also contributed to the de-
velopment of San Bernardino, through which town it passed.
Before the year was out, one or two express companies were
placarding the stores here with announcements of rates "To
Great Salt Lake City." Banning, by the way, then purchased
in Salt Lake the best wagons he had, and brought here some
of the first vehicles with spokes to be seen in Los Angeles.
The sc!hool authorities of the past sometimes sailed on waters
as troubled as those rocking the Educational Boards to-day. I
recall an amusing incident of the middle fifties, when a new
set of Trustees, having succeeded to the control of affairs,
were scandalized, or at least pretended to be, by an action
of their predecessors, and immediately adopted the following
resolution :
Resolved, that page seven of the School Commissioners'
Record be pasted down on page eight, so that the indecorous
language written therein by the School Commissioners of 1855,
can never again be read or seen, said language being couched
in such terms that the present School Commissioners are not
wiUing to read such record.
Richard Laugh' in died at his vineyard, on the east side of
Alameda Street, in or soon after 1855. Like William Wolfskill,
Ewing Young — who fitted out the Wolfskill party — and Moses
Carson, brother of the better-known Kit and at one time a
1 88 Sixty Years in Southern California [1855]
trader at San Pedro, Laughlin was a trapper who made his way
to Los Angeles along the Gila River. This was a waterway
of the savage Apache country traversed even in 1854 —
according to the lone ferryman's statistics — by nearly ten
thousand persons. In middle life, Laughlin supported himself
by carpentry and hunting.
With the increase in the number and activity of the Chinese
in California, the prejudice of the masses was stirred up vio-
lently. This feeling found expression particularly in 1 855, when
a law was passed by the Legislature, imposing a fine of fifty
dollars on each owner or master of a vessel bringing to Califor-
nia anyone incapable of becoming a citizen ; but when suit was
instituted, to test the act's validity, it was declared un-
constitutional. At that time, most of the opposition to the
Chinese came from San Franciscans, there being but few coolies
here.
Certain members of the same Legislature led a movement
to form a new State, to be called Colorado and to include all
the territory south of San Luis Obispo; and the matter was
repeatedly discussed in several subsequent sessions." Nothing
came of it, however; but Kern County was formed, in 1866,
partly from Los Angeles County and partly from Tulare.
About five thousand square miles, formerly under our County
banner, were thus legislated away; and because the mountain-
ous and desert area seemed of little prospective value, we sub-
mitted willingly. In this manner, unenlightened by modern
science and ignorant of future possibilities, Southern Cali-
fornia, guided by no clear and certain vision, drifted and
stumbled along to its destiny.
■iSeti-ms^^!idi \
Myer J. Newmark
Edward J. C. Kewen
Dr. John S. Griffin
William C. Warren
CHAPTER XIV
ORCHARDS AND VINEYARDS
1856
DURING 1856, I dissolved with my partners, Rich and
Laventhal, and went into business with my uncle,
Joseph Newmark, J. P. Newmark and Maurice
Kremer, under the title of Newmark, Kremer & Company.
Instead of a quasi wholesale business, we now had a larger
assortment and did more of a retail business. We occupied a
room, about forty by eighty feet in size, in the Mascarel and
Barri block on the south side of Commercial Street (then
known as Commercial Row), between Main and Los Angeles
streets, our modest estabhshment being almost directly oppo-
site the contracted quarters of my first store and having the
largest single storeroom then in the city; and there we con-
tinued with moderate success, until 1858.
To make this new partnership possible, Kremer had sold
out his interest in the firm of Lazard & Kremer, dry goods
merchants, the readjustment providing an amusing illustration
of the manner in which business, with its almost entire lack of
specialization, was then conducted. When the stock was taken,
a large part of it consisted, not of dry goods, as one might well
suppose, but of — cigars and tobacco !
About the beginning of 1856, Sisters of Charity made their
first appearance in Los Angeles, following a meeting called by
Bishop Amat during the preceding month, to provide for their
coming, when Abel Stearns presided and John G. Downey acted
as Secretary. Benjamin Hayes, Thomas Foster, Ezra Drown,
189
190 Sixty Years in Southern California [1856
Louis Vignes, Ygnacio del Valle and Antonio Coronel co-
operated, while Manuel Requena collected the necessary funds.
On January 5th, Sisters Maria Scholastica, Maria Corzina,
Ana, Clara, Francisca and Angela arrived — three of them
coming almost directly from Spain; and immediately they
formed an important adjunct to the Church in matters per-
taining to religion, charity and education. It was to them that
B. D. Wilson sold his Los Angeles home, including ten acres of
fine orchard, at the corner of Alameda and Macy streets, for
eight thousand dollars ; and there for many years they conducted
their school, the Institute and Orphan Asylum, until they sold
the property to J. M. Griffith, who used the site for a lumber-
yard. Griffith, in turn, disposed of it to the Southern Pacific
Railroad Company. Sister Scholastica, who celebrated in
1889 her fiftieth anniversary as a sister, was long the Mother
Superior.
The so-called First Public School having met with popular
approval, the Board of Education in 1856 opened another
school on Bath Street. The building, two stories in height, was
of brick and had two rooms.
On January 9th, John P. Brodie assumed charge of the
Southern Calif ornian. Andres Pico was then proprietor; and
before the newspaper died, in .1857, Pico lost, it is said, ten
thousand dollars in the venture.
The first regular course of public lectures here was given in
1856 under the auspices of a society known as the Mechanics'
Institute, and in one of Henry Dalton's corrugated iron
buildings.
George T. Burrill, first County Sheriff, died on February
2d, his demise bringing to mind an interesting story. He was
Sheriff, in the summer of 1850, when certain members of
the infarrious Irving party were arraigned for murder, and
during that time received private word that many of the
prisoners' friends would pack the little court room and attempt
a rescue. Burrill, however, who used to wear a sword and had
a rather soldierly bearing, was equal to the emergency. He
quickly sent to Major E. H. Fitzgerald and had the latter
1856] Orchards and Vineyards 191
come post-haste to town and cotirt with a detachment of
soldiers; and with this superior, disciplined force he overawed
the bandits' companeros who, sure enough, were there and fully-
armed to make a demonstration.
Thomas E. Rowan arrived here with his father, James
Rowan, in 1856, and together they opened a bakery. Tom
delivered the bread for a short time, but soon abandoned that
pursuit for politics, being frequently elected to office, serving
in turn as Supervisor, City and County Treasurer and even,
from 1893 to 1894, as Mayor of Los Angeles. Shortly before
Tom married Miss Josephine Mayerhofer in San Francisco in
1862 — and a handsome couple they made — the Rowans bought
from Louis Mesmer the American Bakery, located at the
southwest corner of Main and First streets and originally
established by August Ulyard. When James Rowan died
about forty years ago, Tom fell heir to the bakery; but as he
was otherwise engaged, he employed Maurice Mauricio as man-
ager, and P. Galta, afterward a prosperous business man of Bak-
ersfield, as driver. Tom, who died in 1899, was also associated
as cashier with I. W. Hellman and F. P. F. Temple in their
bank. Rowan Avenue and Rowan Street were both named
after this early comer.
The time for the return of my brother and his European
bride now approached, and I felt a natural desire to meet
them. Almost coincident, therefore, with their arrival in San
Francisco, I was again in that growing city in 1856, although I
had been there but the year previous.
On April 9th, occurred the marriage of Matilda, daughter
of Joseph Newmark, to Maurice Kremer. The ceremony was
performed by the bride's father. For the subsequent festivities,
ice, from which ice cream was made, was brought from San
Bernardino; both luxuries on this occasion being used in Los
Angeles, as far as I can remember, for the first time.
To return to the Los Angeles Star. When J. S. Waite
became Postmaster, in 1855, he found it no sinecure to continue
even such an unpretentious and, in all likelihood, unprofitable
news-sheet and at the same time attend to Uncle Sam's mail-
192 Sixty Years in Southern California [1856
bags; and early in 1856 he offered "the entire estabHshment
at one thousand dollars less than cost." Business was so slow
at that time, in fact, that Waite — after, perhaps, ruefully look-
ing over his unpaid subscriptions — announced that he would
"take wood, butter, eggs, flour, wheat or corn" in payment of
bills due. He soon found a ready customer in William A. Wal-
lace, the Principal of the boys' school who, on the twelfth of
April, bought the paper ; but Waite's disgust was nothing to that
of the schoolteacher who, after two short months' trial with the
editorial quill, scribbled a last doleful adios. "The flush times
of the pueblo, the day of large prices and pocket-books, are
past," Wallace declared; and before him the editor saw "only
picayunes, bad liquor, rags and universal dullness, when neither
pistol-shots nor dying groans" could have any effect, and "when
earthquakes would hardly turn men in their beds!" Nothing
was left for such a destitute and discouraged quillman "but to
wait for a car r eta and get out of town." Wallace sold the paper,
therefore, in June, 1856, to Henry Hamilton, a native of Ireland
who had come to California in 1848 an apprenticed printer,
and was for some years in newspaper work in San Francisco;
and Hamilton soon put new life into the journal.
In 1856, the many-sided Dr. William B. Osburn organized
a company to bore an artesian well west of the city; but when
it reached a depth of over seven hundred feet, the prospectors
went into bankruptcy.
George Lehman, early known as George the Baker (whose
shop at one time was on the site of the Hayward Hotel), was
a somewhat original and very popular character who, in 1856,
took over the Round House on Main Street, between Third
and Fourth, and there opened a pleasure-resort extending to
Spring Street and known as the Garden of Paradise. The
grounds really occupied on the one hand what are now the sites
of the Pridham, the Pinney and the Turnverein, and on the
other the Henne, the Breed and the Lankershim blocks. There
was an entrance on Main Street and one, with two picket
gates, on Spring. From the general shape and appearance of
the building, it was always one of the first objects in town
1856] Orchards and Vineyards 193
to attract attention ; and Lehman (who, when he appeared on
the street, had a crooked cane hanging on his arm and a lemon
in his hand), came to be known as "Round House George."
The house had been erected in the late forties by Raimundo,
generally called Ramon, or Raymond Alexander, a sailor, who
asserted that the design was a copy of a structure he had once
seen on the coast of Africa ; and there Ramon and his native
California wife had lived for many years. Partly because he
wished to cover the exterior with vines and flowers, Lehman
nailed boards over the outer adobe walls and thus changed the
cylinder form into that of an octagon. An ingenious arrange-
ment of the parterre and a peculiar, distribution of some trees,
together with a profusion of plants and flowers — affording cool
and shady bowers, somewhat similar to those of a typical beer
or wine garden of the Fatherland — gave the place great popu-
larity; while two heroic statues — one of Adam and the other of
Eve — with a conglomeration of other curiosities, including the
Apple Tree and the Serpent — all illustrating the world-old story
of Eden — and a moving panorama made the Garden unique and
rather famous. The balcony of the house provided accommo-
dation for the playing of such music, perhaps discordant, as
Los Angeles cotald' then produce, and nearby was a frame-
work containing a kind of swing then popular and known as
"flying horses." The bar was in the Garden, near a well-sweep ;
and at the Main Street entrance stood a majestic and noted
cactus tree which was cut down in 1886. The Garden of Par-
adise was opened toward the end of September, 1858, and so
large were the grounds that when they were used, in 1876,
for the Fourth of July celebration, twenty-six hundred people
were seated there.
This leads me to say that Arthur McKenzie Dodson,, who
established a coal- and wood-yard at what was later the corner
of Spring and Sixth streets, started there a little community
which he called Georgetown — as a compliment, it was said,
to the famous Round House George whose bakery, I have
remarked, was located on that comer.
On June 7th, Dr. John S. Griflfin, who had an old fashioned.
194 Sixty Years in Southern California [1856
classical education, and was a graduate, in medicine, of the
University of Pennsylvania, succeeded Dr. William B. Osburn
as Superintendent of the Los Angeles City Schools.
In these times of modern irrigation and scientific methods,
it is hard to realize how disastrous were climatic extremes in an
earlier day: in 1856, a single electric disturbance, accompanied
by intense heat and sandstorms, left tens of thousands of dead
cattle to tell the story of drought and destruction.
During the summer, I had occasion to go to Fort Tejon to
see George C. Alexander, a customer, and I again asked Sam
Meyer if he would accompany me. Such a proposition was
always agreeable to Sam; and, having procured horses, we
started, the distance being about one hundred and fifteen miles.
We left Los Angeles early one afternoon, and made our
first stop at Lyons's Station, where we put up for the night.
One of the brothers, after whom the place was named, pre-
pared supper. Having to draw some thick blackstrap from a
keg, he used a pitcher to catch the treacle ; and as the liquid
ran very slowly, our sociable host sat down to talk a bit, and
soon forgot all about what he had started to do. The molas-
ses, however, although it ran pretty slowly, ran steadily, and
finally, like the mush in the fairy-tale of the enchanted bowl,
overflowed the top of the receptacle and spread itself over the
dirt floor. When Lyons had finished his chat, he saw, to his
intense chagrin, a new job upon his hands, and one likely to
busy him for some time.
Departing next morning at five o'clock we met Cy Lyons,
who had come to Los Angeles in 1849 and was then engaged
with his brother Sanford in raising sheep in that neighborhood.
Cy was on horseback and had two pack animals, loaded with
provisions. "Hello, boys! where are you bound?" he asked;
and when we told him that we were on our way to Fort Tejon,
he said that he was also going there, and volunteered to save
us forty miles by guiding us over the trail. Such a shortening
of our journey appealed to us as a good prospect, and we fell
in behind the mounted guide.
It was one of those red-hot summer days characteristic of
1856] Orchards and Vineyards 195
that region and season, and in a couple of hours we began to
get very thirsty. Noticing this, Cy told us that no water
would be found until we got to the Rancho de la Liebre, and
that we could not possibly reach there until evening. Having
no bota de agua handy, I took an onion from Lyons's pack and
ate it, and that afforded me some relief; but Sam, whose
decisions were always as lasting as the fragrance of that
aromatic bulb, would not try the experiment. To make a long
story short, when we at last reached the ranch, Sam, completely
fagged out, and unable to alight from his horse, toppled off into
our arms. The chewing of the onion had refreshed me to some
extent, but just the same the day's journey proved one of the
most miserable experiences through which I have ever passed.
The night was so hot at the ranch that we decided to sleep
outdoors in one of the wagons; and being worn out with the
day's exposure and fatigue, we soon fell asleep. The sotmdness
of our slumbers did not prevent us from hearing, in the middle
of the night, a snarling bear, scratching in the immediate
neighborhood. A bear generally means business ; and you may
depend upon it that neither Sam, myself nor even Cy were
very long in bundling out of the wagon and making a dash for .
the more protecting house. Early next morning, we recom-
menced our journey toward Fort Tejon, and reached there
without any further adventures worth relating.
Coming back, we stopped for the night at Gordon's Station,
and the next day rode fully seventy miles — not so inconsider-
able an accompHshment, perhaps, for those not accustomed to
regular saddle exercise.
A few months later, I met Cy on the street. "Harris,"
said he, ' ' do you know that once, on that hot day going to Fort
Tejon, we were within three hundred feet of a fine, cool spring?"
"Then why in the devil," I retorted, "didn't you take us to it?"
To which Cy, with a chuckle, answered: "Well, I just wanted
to see what would happen to you!"
My first experience with camp meetings was in the year
1856, when I attended one in company with Miss Sarah New-
mark, to whom I was then engaged, and Miss Harriet, her
196 Sixty Years in Southern California [1856
sister — later Mrs. Eugene Meyer. I engaged a buggy from
George Carson's livery stable on Main Street; and we rode to
Ira Thompson's grove at El Monte, in which the meeting was
held. These camp meetings supplied a certain amount of social
attraction to residents, in that good-hearted period when
creeds formed a bond rather than a hindrance.
It was in 1856 that, in connection with our regular business,
we began buying hides. One day a Mexican customer came
into the store and, looking around, said: " iCompra cueros?'^
(Do you buy hides?) "Si, senor," I replied, to which he then
said : "Tengo muchos en mi rancho " (I have many at my ranch).
"Where do you live?" I asked. "Between Cahuenga and San
Fernando Mission," he answered. He had come to town in his
carreta, and added that he would conduct me to his place, if I
wished to go there.
I obtained a wagon and, accompanied by Samuel Cohn,
went with the Mexican. The native jogged on, carreta-iashion,
the oxen lazily plodding along, while the driver with his
ubiquitous pole kept them in the road by means of continual
and effective prods, delivered first on one side, then on the other.
It was dark when we reached the ranch; and the night being
balmy, we wrapped ourselves up in blankets, and slept under
the adobe veranda.
Early in the morning, I awoke and took a survey of the
premises. To my amazement, I saw but one little kipskin
hanging up to dry! When at length my Mexican friend
appeared on the scene, I asked him where he kept his hides?
Q Donde tiene usted los cueros ?) At which he pointed to the
lone kip and, with a characteristic and perfectly indifferent
shrug of the shoulders, said: " iNo tengo mds!" (I have no
more !)
I then deliberated with Sam as to what we should do;
and having proceeded to San Fernando Mission to collect
there, if possible, a load of hides, we were soon fortunate
in obtaining enough to compensate us for our previous trou-
ble and disappointment. On the way home, we came to a
rather deep ditch preventing further progress. Being obliged,
i8s6] Orchards and Vineyards 197
however, to get to the other side, we decided to throw the
hides into the ditch, placing one on top of the other, until the
obstructing gap was filled to a level with the road ; and then
we drove across, if not on dry land, at least on dry hides,
which we reloaded onto the wagon. Finally, we reached
town at a late hour.
In this connection, I may remind the reader of Dana's
statement, in his celebrated Two Years before the Mast, that San
Pedro once furnished more hides than any other port on the
Coast ; and may add that from the same port, more than forty
years afterward, consignments of this valuable commodity
were still being made, I myself being engaged more and more
extensively in the hide trade.
Colonel Isaac Williams died on September 13th, having
been a resident of Los Angeles and vicinity nearly a quarter of
a century. A Pennsylvanian by birth, he had with him in the
West a brother, Hiram, later of San Bernardino County.
Happy as was most of Colonel Williams' life, tragedy entered
his family circle, as I shall show, when both of his sons-in-law,
John Rains and Robert Carlisle, met violent deaths at the
hands of others.
Jean Louis Vignes came to Los Angeles in 1829, and set out
the Aliso Vineyard of one hundred and four acres which derived
its name, as did the street, from a previous and incorrect appli-
cation of the Castilian aliso, meaning alder, to the sycamore
tree, a big specimen of which stood on the place. This tree,
possibly a couple of hundred years old, long shaded Vignes'
wine-cellars, and was finally cut down a few years ago to make
room for the Philadelphia Brew House. From a spot about
fifty feet away from the Vignes adobe extended a grape arbor
perhaps ten feet in width and fully a quarter of a mile long,
thus reaching to the river; and this arbor was associated with
many of the early celebrations in Los Angeles. The northern
boundary of the property was Aliso Street ; its western boundary
was Alameda ; and part of it was surrounded by a high adobe
wall, inside of which, during the troubles of the Mexican War,
Don Louis enjoyed a far safer seclusion than many others.
198 Sixty Years in Southern California [1836
On June 7th, 1851, Vignes advertised El Aliso for sale, but it
was not subdivided until much later, when Eugene Meyer and
his associates bought it for this purpose. Vignes Street recalls
the veteran viticulturist.
While upon the subject of this substantial old pioneer
family, 1 may give a rather interesting reminiscence as to the
state of Aliso Street at this time. I have said that this street
was the main road from Los Angeles to the San Bernardino
country; and so it was. But in the fifties, Aliso Street stopped
very abruptly at the Sainsevain Vineyard, where it narrowed
down to one of the willow-bordered, picturesque little lanes so
frequently found here, and paralleled the noted grape-arbor as
far as the river-bank. At this point; Andrew Boyle and other
residents of the Heights and beyond were wont to cross the
stream on their way to and from town. The more important
travel was by means of another lane known as the Aliso Road,
turning at a corner occupied by the old Aliso Mill and winding
along the Hoover Vineyard to the river. Along this route the
San Bernardino stage rolled noisily, traversing in summer or
during a poor season what was an almost dry wash, but encoun-
tering in wet winter raging torrents so impassable that all inter-
course with the settlements to the east was disturbed. For
a whole week, on several occasions, the San Bernardino stage
was tied up, and once at least Andrew Boyle, before he had
become conversant with the vagaries of the Los Angeles River,
found it impossible for the better part of a fortnight to come
to town for the replenishment of a badly-depleted larder.
Lovers' Lane, willowed and deep with dust, was a narrow
road now variously located in the minds of pioneers ; my im-
pression being that it followed the line of the present Date
Street, although some insist that it was Macy.
Pierre Sainsevain, a nephew of Vignes, came in 1839 and
for a while worked for his uncle. Jean Louis Sainsevain,
another nephew, arrived in Los Angeles in 1849 or soon after,
and on April 14th, 1855, purchased for forty-two thousand dol-
lars the vineyard, cellars and other property of his uncle.
This was the same year in which he returned to France for
i8s6i Orchards and Vineyards 199
his son Michel and remarried, leaving another son, Paul, in school
there. Pierre joined his brother; and in 1857 Sainsevain
Brothers made the first California champagne, first shipping
their wine to San Francisco. Paul, now a resident of San Diego,
came to Los Angeles in 1861. The name endures in Sainsevain
Street.
The activity of these Frenchmen reminds me that much
usually characteristic of country life was present in what was
called the city of Los Angeles, when I first saw it, as may be
gathered from the fact that, in 1853, there were a hundred or
more vineyards hereabouts, seventy-five or eighty of which
were within the city precincts. These did not include the once
famous "mother vineyard" of San Gabriel Mission, which the
padres used to claim had about fifty thousand vines, but which
had fallen into somewhat picturesque decay. Near San Gabriel,
however, in 1855, William M. Stockton had a large vineyard
nursery. William Wolfskill was one of the leading vineyardists,
having set out his first vine, so it was said, in 1838, when he
affirmed his belief that the plant, if well cared for, would flour-
ish a hundred years ! Don Jose Serrano, from whom Dr. Leonce
Hoover bought many of the grapes he needed, did have vines,
it was declared, that were nearly a century old. When I first
passed through San Francisco, en route to Los Angeles, I saw
grapes from this section in the markets of that city bringing
twenty cents a pound; and to such an extent for a while did
San Francisco continue to draw on Los Angeles for grapes, that
Banning shipped thither from San Pedro, in 1857, no less than
twenty-one thousand crates, averaging forty-five pounds each.
It was not long, however, before ranches nearer San Francisco
began to interfere with this monopoly of the South, and, as, a
consequence, the shipment of grapes from Los Angeles fell ofT.
This reminds me that William Wolfskill sent to San Francisco
some of the first Northern grapes sold there; they were grown
in a Napa Valley vineyard that he owned in the middle of the
fifties, and when unloaded on the Long Wharf, three or four
weeks in advance of Los Angeles grapes, brought at wholesale
twenty -five dollars per hundred weight !
200 Sixty Years in Southern California [1856
With the decHne in the fresh fruit trade, however, the
making and exportation of wine increased, and several who
had not ventured into vineyarding before, now did so, acquiring
their own land or an interest in the establishments of others.
By 1857, Jean Louis Vignes boasted of possessing some white
wine twenty years old — possibly of the same vintage about
which Dr. Griffin often talked, in his reminiscences of the days
when he had been an army surgeon; and Louis Wilhart occa-
sionally sold wine which was little inferior to that of Jean
Louis. Dr. Hoover was one of the first to make wine for the
general market, having, for a while, a pretty and well-situated
place called the Clayton Vineyard ; and old Joseph Huber, who
had come to California from Kentucky for his health, began in
1855 to make wine with considerable success. He owned the
Foster Vineyard, where he died in July, 1866. B. D. Wilson
was also soon shipping wine to San Francisco. L. J. Rose, who
first entered the field in January, 1861, at Sunny Slope, not far
from San Gabriel Mission, was another producer, and had a
vineyard famous for brandy and wine. He made a departure
in going to the foothills, and introduced many varieties of
foreign grapes. By the same year, or somewhat previously,
Matthew Keller, Stearns & Bell, Dr. Thomas J. White, Dr.
Parrott, Kiln Messer, Henry Dalton, H. D. Barrows, Juan
Bernard and Ricardo Vejar had wineries, and John Schumacher
had a vineyard opposite the site of the City Gardens in the
late seventies. L. H. Titus, in time, had a vineyard, known as
the Dewdrop, near that of Rose. Still another wine producer
was Antonio Maria Lugo, who set out his vines on San Pedro
Street, near the present Second, and often dwelt in the long
adobe house where both Steve Foster, Lugo's son-in-law, and
Mrs. Wallace Woodworth lived, and where I have been many
times pleasantly entertained.
Dr. Leonce Hoover, who died on October 8th, 1862, was a
native of Switzerland and formerly a surgeon in the army
of Napoleon, when his name — later changed at the time of
naturalization — had been Huber. Dr. Hoover in 1849 came
to Los Angeles with his wife, his son, Vincent A. Hoover,
i8s6] Orchards and Vineyards 201
then a young man, and two daughters, the whole family
traveling by ox-team and prairie schooner. They soon dis-
covered rich placer gold-beds, but were driven away by hostile
Indians. A daughter, Mary A., became the wife of Samuel
Briggs, a New Hampshire Yankee, who was for years Wells
Fargo's agent here. For a while the Hoovers lived on the
Wolfskin Ranch, after which they had a vineyard in the neigh-
borhood of what is now the property of the Cudahy Packing
Company. Vincent Hoover was a man of prominence in his
time; he died in 1883. Mrs. Briggs, whose daughter married
the well-known physician. Dr. Granville MacGowan, sold
her home, on Broadway between Third and Fourth streets,
to Homer Laughlin when he erected the Laughlin Building.
Hoover Street is named for this family.
Accompanied by his son William, Joseph Huber, Sr., in
1855 came to Los Angeles from Kentucky, hoping to improve his
health; and when the other members of his family, consisting
of his wife and children, Caroline, Emeline, Edward and
Joseph, followed him here, in 1859, by way of New York and the
Isthmus, they found him settled as a vineyardist, occupying
the Foster property running from Alameda Street to the river,
in a section between Second and Sixth streets. The advent of
a group of young people, so well qualified to add to what has
truthfully been described by old-time Angel ehos as our family
circle, was hailed with a great deal of interest and satisfaction.
In time, Miss Emeline Huber was married to O. W. Childs, and
Miss Caroline was wedded to Dr. Frederick Preston Howard, a
druggist who, more than forty years ago, bought out Theodore
Wollweber, selling the business back to the latter a few years
later. The prominence of this family made it comparatively
easy for Joseph Huber, Jr., in 1865, to secure the nomination
and be elected County Treasurer, succeeding M. Kremer, who
had served six years. Huber, Sr., died about the middle sixties.
Mrs. Huber lived to be eighty-three years old.
Jose de Rubio had at least two vineyards when I came —
one on Alameda Street, south of Wolfskill's and not far from
Coronel's, and one on the east side of the river. Riibio came
202 Sixty Years in Southern California [1856
here very early in the century, after having married Juana, a
daughter of Juan Maria Miron, a well-known sea captain, and
built three adobe houses. The first of these was on the site of
the present home of William H. Workman, on Boyle Heights;
the second was near what was later the corner of Alameda and
Eighth streets, and the third was on Alameda Street near the
present Vernon Avenue. One of his ranches was known as
" Riibio's," and there many a barbecue was celebrated. In 1859,
Rdbio leased the Sepulveda Landing, at San Pedro, and com-
menced to haul freight, to and fro. Sehor and Sefiora Rubio'
had twenty-five children, of whom five are now living. An-
other Los Angeles vineyardist who lived near the river when I
came was a Frenchman named Clemente.
Julius Weyse also had a vineyard, living on what is now
Eighth Street near San Pedro. A son, H. G. Weyse, has distin-
guished himself as an attorney and has served in the Legislature ;
another, Otto G., married the widow of Edward Naud, while a
third son, Rudolf G., married a daughter of H. D. Barrows.
The Reyes family was prominent here ; a daughter married
William Nordholt. Ysidro had a vineyard on Washington
Street; and during one of the epidemics, he died of smallpox.
His brother, Pablo, was a rancher.
While on the subject of vineyards, I may describe the
method by which wine was made here in the early days and the
part taken in the industry by the Indians, who always in-
terested and astounded me. Stripped to the skin, and wearing
only loin-cloths, they tramped with ceaseless tread from morn
till night, pressing from the luscious fruit of the vineyard the
juice so soon to ferment into wine. The grapes were placed in
elevated vats from which the liquid ran into other connecting
vessels; and the process exhaled a stale acidity, scenting the
surrounding air. These Indians were employed in the early
fall, the season of the year when wine is made and when the
thermometer as a rule, in Southern California, reaches its
■ Senora de Riibio survived her husband many years, dying on October 27th,
1914, at the age of one hundred and seven, after residing in Los Angeles ninety-
four years.
i8s6] Orchards and Vineyards 203
highest point; and this temperature coupled with incessant
toil caused the perspiration to drip from their swarthy bodies
into the wine product, the sight of which in no wise increased
my appetite for California wine.
A staple article of food for the Indians in 1856, by the
way, was the acorn. The crop that year, however, was very
short; and streams having also failed, in many instances, to
yield the food usually taken from them, the tribes were in a
distressed condition. Such were the aborigines' straits, in
fact, that rancher OS were warned of the danger, then greater
than ever, from Indian depredations on stock.
In telling of the Sisters of Charity, I have forgotten to add
that, after settling here, they sent to New York for a portable
house, which they shipped to Los Angeles by way of Cape
Horn. In due time, the house arrived ; but imagine their vex-
ation on discovering that, although the parts were supposed
to have been marked so that they might easily be joined to-
gether, no one here could do the work. In the end, the Sisters
were compelled to send East for a carpenter who, after a long
interval, arrived and finished the house.
Soon after the organization of a Masonic lodge here, in
1854, many of my friends joined, and among them my brother,
J. P. Newmark, who was admitted on February 26th, 1855, on
which occasion J. H. Stuart was the Secretary; and through their
participation in the celebration of St. John's Day (the twenty-
fourth of June,) I was seized with a desire to join the order.
This I did at the end of 1856, becoming a member of Los Angeles
Lodge No. 42, whose meetings were held over Potter's store on
Main Street. Worshipful Master Thomas Foster initiated me,
and on January 22d, 1857, Worshipful Master Jacob Elias offi-
ciating, I took the third degree. I am, therefore, in all probabil-
ity, the oldest living member of this now venerable Masonic
organization.
CHAPTER XV
SHERIFF BARTON AND THE BANDIDOS
1857
IN the beginning of 1857, we had a more serious earthquake
than any in recent years. At half -past eight o'clock on the
morning of January 9th, a tremor shook the earth from
North to South; the first shocks being light, the quake grew
in power until houses were deserted, men, women and children
sought refuge in the streets, and horses and cattle broke
loose in wild alarm. For perhaps two, or two and a half
minutes, the temblor continued .and much damage was done.
Los Angeles felt the disturbance far less than many other places,
although five to six shocks were noted and twenty times during
the week people were frightened from their homes; at Temple's
rancho and at Fort Tejon great rents were opened in the earth and
then closed again, piling up a heap or dune of finely -powdered
stone and dirt. Large trees were uprooted and hurled down the
hillsides; and tumbling after them went the cattle. Many
officers, including Colonel B. L. Beall — well known in Los
Angeles social circles — barely escaped from the barracks with
their lives; and until the cracked adobes could be repaired,
officers and soldiers lived in tents. It was at this time, too,
that a so-called tidal wave almost engulfed the Sea Bird,
plying between San Pedro and San Francisco, as she was
entering the Golden Gate. Under the splendid seamanship
of Captain Salisbury Haley, however, his little ship weathered
the wave, and he was able later to report her awful experience
to the scientific world.
204
[i8s7] Sheriff Barton and the Bandidos 205
This year also proved a dry season; and, consequently,
times became very bad. With two periods of adversity, even
the richest of the cattle-kings felt the pinch, and many began
to part with their lands in order to secure the relief needed to
tide them over. The effects of drought continued until 1858,
although some good influences improved business conditions.
Due to glowing accounts of the prospects for conquest and
fortune given out by Henry A. Crabb, a Stockton lawyer who
married a Spanish woman with relatives in Sonora, a hundred
or more filibusters gathered in Los Angeles, in January, to
meet Crabb at San Pedro, when he arrived from the North on
the steamer Sea Bird. They strutted about the streets here,
displaying rifles and revolvers; and this would seem to have
been enough to prevent their departure for Sonita, a little
town a hundred miles beyond Yuma, to which they finally
tramped. The filibusters were permitted to leave, however, and
they invaded the foreign soil; but Crabb made a mess of the
undertaking, even failing in blowing up a little church he
attacked; and those not killed in the skirmish were soon
surrounded and taken prisoners. The next morning, Crabb
and some others who had paraded so ostentatiously while here,
were tied to trees or posts, and summarily executed. Crabb's
body was riddled with a hundred bullets and his head cut off
and sent back in mescal; only one of the party was spared —
Charley Evans, a lad of fifteen years, who worked his way to
Los Angeles and was connected with a somewhat similar inva-
sion a while later.
In January, also, when threats were made against the white
population of Southern California, Mrs. Griffin, the wife of
Dr. J. S. Griffin, came running, in all excitement, to the home
of Joseph Newmark, and told the members of the family to
lock all their doors and bolt their windows, as it was reported
that some of the outlaws were on their way to Los Angeles,
to murder the white people. As soon as possible, the ladies of
the Griffin, Nichols, Foy, Mallard, Workman, Newmark and
other families were brought together for greater safety in
Armory Hall, on Spring Street near Second, wMle the men took
2o6 Sixty Years in Southern California [1857
their places in line with the other citizens to patrol the hills and
streets.
A still vivid impression of this startling episode recalls an
Englishman, a Dr. Carter, who arrived here some three years
before. He lived on the east side of Main Street near First,
where the McDonald Block now stands ; and while not promi-
nent in his profession, he associated with some estimable families.
When others were volunteering for sentry-work or to fight, the
Doctor very gallantly offered his services as a Committee of
One to care for the ladies — far from the firing line !
On hearing of these threats by native bandidos, James R.
Barton, formerly a volunteer under General S. W. Kearny
and then Sheriff, at once investigated the rumors; and the
truth of the reports being verified, our small and exposed
community was seized with terror.
A large band of Mexican outlaws, led by Pancho Daniel, a
convict who had escaped from San Quentin prison, and includ-
ing Luciano Tapia and Juan Flores, on January 22d had killed
a German storekeeper named George W. Pflugardt, in San
Juan Capistrano, while he was preparing his evening meal;
and after having placed his body on the table, they sat around
and ate what the poor victim had provided for himself. On
the same occasion, these outlaws plundered the stores of Manuel
Garcia, Henry Charles and Miguel Kragevsky or Kraszewski;
the last named escaping by hiding under a lot of wash in a
large clothes-basket. When the news of this murder reached
Los Angeles, excitement rose to fever-heat and we prepared
for something more than defense.
Jim Barton, accompanied by William H. Little and Charles
K. Baker, both constables, Charles F. Daley, an early black-
smith here, Alfred Hardy and Frank Alexander — all volun-
teers— left that evening for San Juan Capistrano, to capture
the murderers, and soon arrived at the San Joaquin Ranch,
about eighteen miles from San Juan. There Don Jose Andres
Sepulveda told Barton of a trap set for him, and that the
robbers outnumbered his posse, two to one; and urged him to
send back to Los Angeles for more volunteers. Brave but
i8s7] Sheriff Barton and the Bandidos 207
reckless Barton, however, persisted in pushing on the next day,
and so encountered some of the marauders in Santiago Canyon.
Barton, Baker, Little and Daley were killed; while Hardy and
Alexander escaped.
When Los Angeles was apprised of this second tragedy,
the frenzy was indescribable, and steps were taken toward the
formation of both a Committee of Safety and a Vigilance
Committee — the latter to avenge the foul deed and to bring in
the culprits. In meeting this emergency, the El Monte boys,
as usual, took an active part. The city was placed under
martial law, and Dr. John S. Grififin was put in charge of the
local defenses. Suspicious houses, thought to be headquarters
for robbers and thieves, were searched; and forty or fifty per-
sons were arrested. The State Legislature was appealed to
and at once voted financial aid.
Although the Committee of Safety had the assistance of
special foot police in guarding the city, the citizens made a
requisition on Fort Tejon, and fifty soldiers were sent from
that post to help pursue the band. Troops from San Diego,
with good horses and plenty of provisions, were also placed at
the disposition of the Los Angeles authorities. Companies of
mounted Rangers were made up to scour the country, Ameri-
can, German and French citizens vying with one another for the
honor of risking their lives; one such company being formed
at El Monte, and another at San Bernardino. There were also
two detachments of native CaHfornians; but many Sonorans
and Mexicans from other States, either from sympathy or fear,
aided the murdering robbers and so made their pursuit doubly
difificult. However, the outlaws were pursued far into the
mountains; and although the first party sent out returned
without effecting anything (reporting that the desperadoes
were not far from San Juan and that the horses of the pursuers
had given out) practically all of the band, as will be seen,
were eventually captured.
Not only were vigorous measures taken to apprehend and
punish the murderers, but provision was made to rescue the
bodies of the slain, and to give them decent and honor-
2o8 Sixty Years in Southern California [1857
able burial. The next morning, after nearly one hundred
mounted and armed men had set out to track the fugitives,
another party, also on horseback, left to escort several wagons
filled with cofBns, in which they hoped to bring back the
bodies of Sheriff Barton and his comrades. In this effort, the
posse succeeded; and when the remains were received in Los
Angeles on Sunday about noon, the city at once went into
mourning. All business was suspended, and the impressive
burial ceremonies, conducted on Monday, were attended by
the citizens en masse. Oddly enough, there was not a Protes-
tant clergyman in town at the time; but the Masonic Order
took the matter in hand and performed their rites over those
who were Masons, and even paid their respects, with a portion
of the ritual, to the non-Masonic dead.
General Andres Pico, with a company of native mounted
Californians, who left immediately after the funeral, was
especially prominent in running down the outlaws, thus again
displaying his natural gift of leadership; and others fitted
themselves out and followed as soon as they could. General
Pico knew both land and people; and on capturing Silvas and
Ardillero, two of the worst of the bandidos, after a hard resist-
ance, he straightway hung them to trees, at the very spot where
they had tried to assassinate him and his companions.
In the pursuit of the murderers, James Thompson (suc-
cessor, in the following January, to the murdered Sheriff
Getman) led a company of horsemen toward the Tejunga;
and at the Simi Pass, high upon the rocks, he stationed United
States soldiers as a lookout. Little San Gabriel, in which J. F.
Burns, as Deputy Sheriff, was on the watch, also made its con-
tribution to the restoration of order and peace; for some of its
people captured and executed three or four of Daniels's and
Flores's band. Flores was caught on the top of a peak in the
Santiago range ; all in all, some fifty- two culprits were brought
to Los Angeles and lodged in jail; and of that number eleven
were lynched or legally hung.
When the Vigilance Committee had jailed a suspected
murderer, the people were called to sit in judgment. We met
1857] Sheriff Barton and the Bandidos 209
near: the veranda of the Montgomery, and Judge Jonathan R.
Scott having been made Chairman, a regular order of procedure,
extra-legal though it was, was followed; after announcing the
capture, and naming the criminal, the Judge called upon the
crowd to determine the prisoner's fate. Thereupon some one
would shout : ' ' Hang him ! ' ' Scott would then put the question
somewhat after the following formula: "Gentlemen, you have
heard the motion ; all those in favor of hanging So-and-So, will
signify by saying, Aye! "
And the citizens present unanimously answered, Aye !
Having thus expressed their will, the assemblage proceeded
to the jail, a low, adobe building behind the little Municipal
and County structure, and easily subdued the jailer, Frank
J. Carpenter, whose daughter, Josephine, became Frank
Burns's second wife. The prisoner was then secured, taken
from his cell, escorted to Fort Hill — a rise of ground behind
the jail — where a temporary gallows had been constructed,
and promptly despatched ; and after each of the first batch of
culprits had there successively paid the penalty for his crime,
the avengers quietly dispersed to their homes to await the
capture and dragging in of more cutthroats.
Among those condemned by vote at a public meeting in
the way I have described, was Juan Flores, who was hanged
on February 14th, 1857, well up on Fort Hill, in sight of such
a throng that it is hardly too much to say that practically
every man, woman and child in the pueblo was present, not to
mention many people drawn by curiosity from various parts
of the State who had flocked into town. Flores was but
twenty-one years of age; yet, the year previous he had been
sent to prison for horse-steahng. At the same time that Flores
was executed, Miguel Blanco, who had stabbed the militia-
man. Captain W. W. Twist, in order to rob him of a thousand
dollars, was also hanged.
Espinosa and Lopez, two members of the robber band, for a
while eluded their pursuers. At San Buenaventura, however,
they were caught, and on the following morning, Espinosa
was hung. Lopez again escaped; and it was not until Feb-
210 Sixty Years in Southern California [tSs?
ruary i6th that he was finally recaptured and despatched to
other realms.
Two days after Juan Floras was sent to a warmer clime,
Luciano Tapia and Thomas King were executed. Tapia's
case was rather regrettable, for he had been a respectable
laborer at San Luis Obispo until Flores, meeting him, persuaded
him to abandon honest work. Tapia came to Los Angeles,
joined the robber band and was one of those who helped to
kill Sheriff Barton.
In 1857, the Sisters of Charity founded the Los Angeles
Infirmary, the first regular hospital in the city, with Sister
Ana, for years well known here, as Sister Superior. For a while,
temporary quarters were taken in the house long occupied by
Don Jose Maria Aguilar and family, which property the Sisters
soon purchased ; but the next year they bought some land from
Don Luis Arenas, adjoining Don Jose Andres Sepiilveda's, and
were thus enabled to enlarge the hospital. Their service being
the best, in time they were enabled to acquire a good-sized,
two-story building of brick, in the upper part of the city; and
there their patients enjoyed the refreshing and health-restoring
environment of garden and orchard.
It was not until this year that, on the corner of Alameda
and Bath streets, Oscar Macy, City Treasurer in 1887-88,
opened the first public bath house, having built a water-wheel
with small cans attached to the paddles, to dip water up from
the Alameda zanja, as a medium for supplying his tank. He
provided hot water as well as cold. Oscar charged fifty cents
a bath, and furnished soap and towels.
In 1857, the steamship Senator left San Francisco on the
fifth and twentieth of each month and so continued until the
people wanted a steamer at least once every ten days.
Despite the inconvenience and expense of obtaining water
for the home, it was not until February 24th that Judge W. G.
Dryden — who, with a man named McFadden, had established
the nucleus of a system — was granted a franchise to distribute
water from his land, and to build a water-wheel in the zanja
madre. The Dryden, formerly known as the Abila Springs
i8s7] Sheriff Barton and the ^«/^^/<3^(?5 211
and later the source of the Beaudry supply, were near the site
selected for the San Fernando Street Railway Station; and
from these springs water was conveyed by a zanja to the Plaza.
There, in the center, a brick tank, perhaps ten feet square and
fifteen feet high, was constructed ; and this was filled by means
of pumps, while from the tank wooden pipes distributed water
to the consumer.
So infrequently did we receive intelligence from the remoter
parts of the world throughout the fifties that sometimes a
report, especially if apparently authentic, when finally it
reached here, created real excitement. I recall, more or less
vividly, the arrival of the stages from the Senator, late in March,
and the stir made when the news was passed from mouth to
mouth that Livingstone, the explorer, had at last been heard
from in far-off and unknown Africa.
Los Angeles schools were then open only part of the year,
the School Board being compelled, in the spring, to close them
for want of money. William Wolfskill, however, rough pioneer
though he was, came to the Board's rescue. He was widely
known as an advocate of popular education, having, as I have
said, his own private teachers ; and to his lasting honor, he gave
the Board sufficient funds to make possible the reopening of one
of the schools.
In 1857, I again revisited San Francisco. During the four
years since my first visit a complete metamorphosis had taken
place. Tents and small frame structures were being largely
replaced with fine buildings of brick and stone; many of the
sand dunes had succumbed to the march of improvement;
gardens were much more numerous, and the uneven char-
acter of streets and sidewalks had been wonderfully improved.
In a word, the spirit of Western progress was asserting itself,
and the city by the Golden Gate was taking on a decidedly
metropolitan appearance.
Notwithstanding various attempts at citrus culture in
Southern California, some time elapsed before there was much
of an orange or lemon industry in this vicinity. In 1854, a Dr.
Halsey started an orange and hme nursery, on the Rowland
212 Sixty Years in Southern California [1857
place, which he soon sold to William Wolf skill, for four thou-
sand dollars; and in April, 1857, when there were not many-
more than a hundred orange trees bearing fruit in the whole
county. Wolfskin planted several thousand and so established
what was to be, for that time, the largest orange orchard
in the United States. He had thrown away a good many
of the lemon trees received from Halsey, because they were
frost-bitten; but he still had some lemon, orange and olive
trees left. Later, under the more scientific care of his son,
Joseph Wolfskin, who extended the original Wolfskill grove,
this orchard was made to yield very large crops.
In 1857, a group of Germans living in San Francisco bought
twelve hundred acres of waste, sandy land, at two dollars an
acre, from Don Pacifico Onteveras, and on it started the town
of Anaheim — a name composed of the Spanish Ana, from
Santa Ana, and the German Heim, for home ; and this was the
first settlement in the county founded after my arrival. This
land formed a block about one and a quarter miles square,
some three miles from the Santa Ana River, and five miles
from the residence of Don Bernardo Yorba, from whom the
company received special privileges. A. Langenberger, a
German, who married Yorba's daughter, was probably one of
the originators of the Anaheim plan; at any rate, his influence
with his father-in-law was of value to his friends in completing
the deal. There were fifty shareholders, who paid seven hun-
dred and fifty dollars each, with an Executive Council composed
of Otmar Caler, President; G. Charles Kohler, Vice-President;
Cyrus Beythien, Treasurer; and John Fischer, Secretary;
while John Frohling, R. Emerson, Felix Bachman, who was a
kind of Sub-treasurer, and Louis Jazyinsky, made up the Los
Angeles Auditing Committee. George Hansen, afterward
the colony's Superintendent, surveyed the tract and laid it
out in fifty twenty-acre lots, with streets and a public park;
around it a live fence of some forty to fifty thousand willow
cuttings, placed at intervals of a couple of feet, was planted.
A main canal, six to seven miles long, with a fall of fifteen to
twenty feet, brought abundant water from the Santa Ana
i8s7l Sheriff Barton and the Bandidos 213
River, while some three hundred and fifty miles of lateral
ditches distributed the water to the lots. On each lot, some
eight or ten thousand grape vines were set out, the first as
early as January, 1858. On December 15th, 1859, the stock-
holders came south to settle on their partially-cultivated land;
and although but one among the entire number knew anything
about wine-making, the dream of the projectors — to estab-
lish there the largest vineyard in the world — bade fair to come
true. The colonists were quite a curious mixture — two or
three carpenters, four blacksmiths, three watchmakers, a
brewer, an engraver, a shoemaker, a poet, a miller, a book-
binder, two or three merchants, a hatter and a musician; but
being mostly of stiu-dy, industrious German stock, they soon
formed such a prosperous and important little community
that, by 1876, the settlement had grown to nearly two thousand
people. A peculiar plan was adopted for investment, sale and
compensation: each stockholder paid the same price at the
beginning, and later all drew for the lots, the apportionment
being left to chance ; but since the pieces of land were conceded
to have dissimilar values, those securing the better lots equal-
ized in cash with their less lucky associates. Soon after i860,
when Langenberger had erected the first. hotel there, Anaheim
took a leading place in the production of grapes and wine ; and
this position of honor it kept until, in 1888, a strange disease
suddenly attacked and, within a single year, killed all the vines,
after which the cultivation of oranges and walnuts was under-
taken. Kohler and Frohling had wineries in both San Francisco
and Los Angeles, the latter being adjacent to the present
corner of Central Avenue and Seventh Street; and this firm
purchased most of Anaheim's grape crop, although some vine-
yard owners made their own wine. IMorris L. Goodman, by
the way, was here at an early period, and was one of the first
settlers of Anaheim.
Hermann Heinsch, a native of Prussia, arrived in Los
Angeles in 1857 and soon, after engaged in the harness and
saddlery business. On March 8th, 1863, he was married to
Mary Haap. Having become proficient at German schools in
214 Sixty Years in Southern California [1857
both music and languages, Heinsch lent his time and efforts to
the organization and drill of Germans here, and contributed
much to the success of both the Teutonia and the Turnverein.
In 1869, the Heinsch Building was erected at the corner of Com-
mercial and Los Angeles streets; and as late as 1876 this was
a shopping district, a Mrs. T. J. Baker having a dressmaking
establishment there. After a prosperous career, Heinsch died
on January 13th, 1883; his wife followed him on April 14th,
1906. R. C. Heinsch, a son, survives them.
Major Walter Harris Harvey, a native of Georgia once a
cadet at West Point, but dismissed for his pranks (who about
the middle of the fifties married Eleanor, eldest full sister of
John G. Downey, and became the father of J. Downey Harvey,
now living in San Francisco) , settled in California shortly after
the Mexican War. During the first week in May, 1857, or
some four years before he died, Major Harvey arrived from
Washington with an appointment as Register of the Land
Office, in place of H. P. Dorsey. At the same time, Don
Agustin Olvera was appointed Receiver, in lieu of General
Andres Pico. These and other rotations in office were due, of
course, to national administration changes. President Buchanan
having recently been inaugurated.
One of the interesting legal inquiries of the fifties was
conducted in 1857 when, in the District Court here, Antonio
Maria Lugo, crowned with the white of seventy-six winters,
testified, at a hearing to establish certain claims to land, as to
what he knew of old ranchos hereabouts, recalling many details
of the pueblo and incidents as far back as 1785. He had seen
the San Rafael Ranch, for example, in 1790, and he had also
roamed, as a young man, over the still older Dominguez and
Nietos hills.
Charles Henry Forbes, who was born at the Mission San
Jose, came to Los Angeles County in 1857 and, though but
twenty-two years old, was engaged by Don Abel Stearns to
superintend his various ranchos, becoming Stearns's business
manager in 1866, with a small office on the ground-floor of
the Arcadia Block. In 1864, Forbes married Dona Luisa
1857] Sheriff Barton and the Bandidos 215
Olvera, daughter of Judge Agustin Olvera, and a graduate
of the Sisters' school. On the death of Don Abel, in 1871,
Forbes settled up Stearns's large estate, retaining his pro-
fessional association with Dona Arcadia, after her marriage to
Colonel Baker, and even until he died in May, 1894.
As I have intimated, the principal industry throughout Los
Angeles County, and indeed throughout Southern California, up
to the sixties, was the raising of cattle and horses — an under-
taking favored by a people particularly fond of leisure and
knowing little of the latent possibilities in the land; so that this
entire area of ma.gnificent soil supported herds which provided
the whole population in turn, directly or indirectly, with a
livelihood. The live stock subsisted upon the grass growing
wild all over the county, and the prosperity of Southern Cali-
fornia therefore depended entirely upon the season's rainfall.
This was true to a far greater extent than one might suppose,
for water-development had received no attention outside of Los
Angeles. If the rainfall was sufficient to produce feed, dealers
came from the North and purchased our stock, and everybody
thrived; if, on the other hand, the season was dry, cattle and
horses died and the public's pocket-book shrank to very un-
pretentious dimensions. As an incident in even a much later
period than that which I here have in mind, I can distinctly re-
member that I would rise three or four times during a single
meal to see if the overhanging clouds had yet begun to give
that rain which they had seemed to promise, and which was
so vital to our prosperity.
As for rain, I am reminded that every newspaper in those
days devoted much space to weather reports or, rather, to gos-
sip about the weather at other points along the Coast, as
well as to the consequent prospects here. The weather was the
one determining factor in the problem of a successful or a
disastrous season, and became a very important theme when
ranchers and others congregated at our store.
And here I may mention, h, propos of this matter of rainfall
and its general effects, that there were milHons of ground-
squirrels all over this country that shared with other animals
2i6 Sixty Years in Southern California [1857
the ups and downs of the season. When there was plenty of
rain, these squirrels fattened and multiplied; but when evil
days came, they sickened, starved and perished. On the other
hand, great overflows, due to heavy rainfalls, drowned many
of these troublesome little rodents.
The raising of sheep had not yet developed any importance
at the time of my arrival; most of the mutton then consumed
in Los Angeles coming from Santa Cruz Island, in the Santa
Barbara Channel, though some was brought from San Clemente
and Santa Catalina islands. On the latter, there was a herd
of from eight to ten thousand sheep in which Oscar Macy later
acquired an interest; and L. Harris, father-in-law of H. W.
Frank, the well- and favorably-known President and member
of the Board of Education, also had extensive herds there.
They ran wild and needed very little care, and only semi-yearly
visits were made to look after the shearing, packing and ship-
ping of the wool. Santa Cruz Island had much larger herds,
and steamers running to and from San Francisco often stopped
there to take on sheep and sheep-products.
Santa Catalina Island, for years the property of Don Jose
Maria Covarriibias — and later of the eccentric San Francisco
pioneer James Lick, who crossed the plains in the same party
with the Lanfranco brothers and tried to induce them to settle
in the North — was not far from San Clemente; and there,
throughout the extent of her hills and vales, roamed herd after
herd of wild goats. Early seafarers, I believe it has been sug-
gested, accustomed to carry goats on their sailing vessels,
for a supply of milk, probably deposited some of the animals
on Catalina; but however that may be, hunting parties to
this day explore the mountains in search of them.
Considering, therefore, the small number of sheep here
about 1853, it is not uninteresting to note that, according to
old records of San Gabriel for the winter of 1828-29, there were
then at the Mission no less than fifteen thousand sheep ; while
in 1858, on the other hand, according to fairly accurate reports,
there were fully twenty thousand sheep in Los Angeles County.
Two years later, the number had doubled.
1857] Sheriff Barton and the Bandidos 217
George Carson, a New Yorker who came here in 1852, and
after whom Carson Station is named, was one of the first to
engage in the sheep industry. Soon after he arrived, he went
into the Hvery business, to which he gave attention even when
in partnership successively with Sanford, Dean and Hicks in
the hardware business, on Commercial Street. On July 30th,
1857, Carson married Dona Victoria, a daughter of Manuel
Dominguez; but it was not until 1864 that, having sold out his
two business interests (the livery to George Butler and the
hardware to his partner) , he moved to the ranch of his father-
in-law, where he continued to live, assisting Dominguez with the
management of his great property. Some years later, Carson
bought four or five hundred acres of land adjoining the Domin-
guez acres and turned his attention to sheep. Later still, he
became interested in the development of thoroughbred cattle and
horses, but continued to help his father-in-law in the directing
of his ranch. When rain favored the land, Carson, in common
with his neighbors, amassed wealth ; but during dry years he suf-
fered disappointment and loss, and on one occasion was forced
to take his flocks, then consisting of ten thousand sheep, to the
mountains, where he lost all but a thousand head. It cost him
ten thousand dollars to save the latter, which amount far
exceeded their value. In this movement of stock, he took with
him, as his lieutenant, a young Mexican named Martin Cruz
whom he had brought up on the rancho. Carson was one of my
cronies, while I was still young and single; and we remained
warm friends until he died.
Almost indescribable excitement followed the substantiated
reports, received in the fall of 1857, that a train of emigrants
from Missouri and Arkansas, on their way to California, had
been set upon by Indians, near Mountain Meadow, Utah, on
September 7th, and that thirty-six members of the party had
been brutally killed. Particularly were the Gentiles of the
Southwest stirred up when it was learned that the assault had
been planned and carried through by one Lee, a Mormon,
whose act sprang rather from the frenzy of a madman than
from the deliberation of a well-balanced mind. The attitude
2i8 Sixty Years in Soutiiern California [1857
of Brigham Young toward the United States Government, at
that time, and his alleged threat to "turn the Indians loose"
upon the whites, added color to the assertion that Young's
followers were guilty of the massacre ; but fuller investigation
has absolved the Mormons, I believe, as a society, from any
complicity in the awful affair. Some years later the two Oat-
man girls were rescued from the Indians (by whom they had
been tattooed) , and for a while they stayed at Ira Thompson's,
where I saw them.
In 1857, J. G. Nichols was reelected Mayor of Los Angeles,
and began several improvements he had previously advocated,
especially the irrigating of the plain below the city. By August
2d, Zanja No. 2 was completed; and this brought about the
building of the Aliso Mill and the further cultivation of much
excellent land.
One of the passengers that left San Francisco with me for
San Pedro on October i8th, 1853, who later became a success-
ful citizen of Southern California, was Edward N. McDonald,
a native of New York State. We had sailed from New York
together, and together had finished the long journey to the
Pacific Coast, after which I lost track of him. McDonald had
intended proceeding farther south, and I was surprised at
meeting him on the street, some weeks after my arrival, in Los
Angeles. Reaching San Pedro, he contracted to enter the
service of Alexander & Banning, and remained with Banning
for several years, until he formed a partnership with John 0.
Wheeler's brother, who later went to Japan. McDonald, sub-
sequently raised sheep on a large scale and acquired much ranch
property; and in 1876, he built the block on Main Street bear-
ing his name. Sixteen years later, he erected another structure,
opposite the first one. When McDonald died at Wilmington,
on June loth, 1899, he left his wife an estate valued at about
one hundred and sixty thousand dollars which must have in-
creased in value, since then, many fold.
N. A. Potter, a Rhode Islander, came to Los Angeles in
1855, bringing with him a stock of Yankee goods and open-
ing a store; and two years later he bought a two-story brick
i8s7] Sheriff Barton and the Bandidos 219
building on Main Street, opposite the Bella Union. Louis
Jazynsky was a partner with Potter, for a while, under the
firm name of Potter & Company; but later Jazynsky left Los
Angeles for San Francisco. Potter died here in 1868.
Possibly the first instance of an Angeleno proffering a gift
to the President of the United States — and that, too, of some-
thing characteristic of this productive soil and climate — was
when Henry D. Barrows, in September, called on President
Buchanan, in Washington and, on behalf of William Wolfskill,
Don Manuel Requena and himself, gave the Chief Executive
some California fruit and wine.
I have before me a Ledger of the year 1857; it is a medium-
sized volume bound in leather, and on the outside cover is
inscribed, in the bold, old-fashioned handwriting of fifty-odd
years ago, the simple legend,
NEWMARK, KREMER & COMPANY
Each page is headed with the name of some still-remembered
worthy of that distant day who was a customer of the old firm ;
and in 1857, a customer was always a friend. According to the
method of that period the accounts are closed, not with balanc-
ing entries and red lines but, in the blackest of black ink, with
the good, straightforward and positive inscription, Settled.
The perusal of this old book carries me back over the
vanished years. As the skull in the hand of the ancient monk,
so does this antiquated volume recall to me how transitory is
this life and all its affairs. A few remain to tell a yotinger
generation the story of the early days ; but the majority, even
as in 1857 they carefully balanced their scores in this old Ledger,
have now closed their accounts in the great Book of Life.
They have settled with their heaviest Creditor ; they have gone
before Him to render their last account. With few or no ex-
ceptions, they were a manly, sterling race, and I have no doubt
that He found their assets far greater than their liabilities.
CHAPTER XVI
MARRIAGE — THE BUTTERFIELD STAGES
J858
IN January, 1858, I engaged, in the sheep business. After
some investigation, I selected and piu-chased for an in-
significant sum, just west of the present Hollenbeck Home
on Boyle Avenue, a convenient site, which consisted of twenty
acres of land, through which a ditch conducted water to Don
Felipe Lugo's San Antonio rancho — a flow quite sufficient, at
the time, for my herd. These sheep I pastured on adjacent
lands belonging to the City ; and as others often did the same,
no one said me Nay. Everything progressed beautifiilly until
the first of May, when the ditch ran dry. Upon making inquiry,
I learned that the City had permitted Lugo to dig a private
ditch across this twenty-acre tract to his ranch, and to use
what water he needed during the rainy season ; but that in May,
when the authorities resumed their irrigation service, the
privilege was withdrawn. I was thus deprived of water for
the sheep.
Despite the fact that there was an adobe on the land, I
could not dispose of the property at any price. One day a
half-breed known as the Chicken Thief called on me and offered
a dozen chickens for the adobe, but — not a chicken for the
land! Stealing chickens was this man's profession; and I
suppose that he offered me the medium of exchange he was
most accustomed to have about him.
Sheriff William C. Getman had been warned, in the tragic
days of 1858, to look out for a maniac named Reed; but almost
[i8s8] Marriage — The Butterfield Stages 221
courting such an emergency, Getman (once a dashing Lieu-
tenant of the Rangers and bearing grapeshot wounds from his
participation in the Siege of Mexico) went, on the seventh of
January, with Francis Baker to a pawnbroker, whose estab-
hshment, near Los Angeles and AHso streets, was popularly
known as the Monte Pio. There the officers found Reed locked
and barricaded in a room ; and while the Sheriff was endeavoring
to force an entrance, Reed suddenly threw open the door, ran
out and, to the dismay of myself and many others gathered to
witness the arrest, pulled a pistol from his pocket, discharged
the weapon, and Getman dropped on the spot. The maniac
then retreated into the pawnbroker's from which he fired
at the crowd. Deputy Baker — later assistant to Marshal
Warren, who was shot by Dye — finally killed the desperado,
but not before Reed had fired twenty to thirty shots, four or
five of which passed through Baker's clothing. When the
excited crowd broke into the shop, it was found that the mad-
man had been armed with two derringers, two revolvers and a
bowie knife — a convenient little arsenal which he had taken
from the money-lender's stock. The news of the affray spread
rapidly through the town and everywhere created great regret.
Baker, who had sailed around the Horn a couple of years be-
fore I arrived, died on May 17th, 1899, after having been City
Marshal and Tax Collector.
Such trouble with men incHned to use firearms too freely
was not confined to maniacs or those bent on revenge or
robbery. On one occasion, for example, about 1858, while
passing along the street I observed Gabriel Allen, known
among his intimates as Gabe Allen, a veteran of the War with
Mexico — and some years later a Supervisor — on one of his
jolUfications, with Sheriff Getman following close at his heels.
Having arrived in front of a building, Gabe suddenly raised
his gun and aimed at a carpenter who was at work on the roof.
Getman promptly knocked Allen down; whereupon the latter
said, "You've got me, Billy!" Allen's only purpose, it ap-
peared, was to take a shot at the innocent stranger and thus
test his marksmanship.
222 Sixty Years in Southern California [1858
This Gabe Allen was really a notorious character, though
not altogether bad. When sober, he was a peaceable man ; but
when on a spree, he was decidedly warlike and on such occasions
always "shot up the town." While on one of these jamborees,
for example, he was heard to say, "I'll shoot, if I only kill six
of them!" In later Hfe, however, Allen married a Mexican
lady who seems to have had a mollifying influence; and there-
after he lived at peace with the world.
During the changing half-century or more of which I
write, Los Angeles has witnessed many exciting street scenes,
but it is doubtful if any exhibition here ever called to doors,
windows and the dusty streets a greater percentage of the
entire population than that of the Government camels driven
through the town on January 8th, 1858, under the martial and
spectacular command of Ned, otherwise Lieutenant, and later
General and Ambassador E. F. Beale, and the forbear of the
so-called hundred milUon dollar McLean baby; the same
Lieutenant Beale who opened up Beale's Route from the Rio
Grande to Fort Tejon. The camels had just come in from the
fort, having traveled forty or more miles a day across the
desert, to be loaded with military stores and provisions. As
early as the beginning of the fifties, Jefferson Davis, then in
Congress, had advocated, but without success, the appropria-
tion of thirty thousand dollars for the purchase of such animals,
believing that they could be used on the overland routes and
would prove especially serviceable in desert regions; and when
Davis, in 1 854, as Secretary of War, secured the appropriation
for which he had so long contended, he despatched American
army officers to Egypt and Arabia to make the purchase.
Some seventy or seventy-five camels were obtained and trans-
ported to Texas by the storeship Supply; and in the Lone Star
State the herd was divided into two parts, half being sent to the
Gadsden Purchase, afterward Arizona, and half to Albuquerque.
In a short time, the second division was put in charge of Lieu-
tenant Beale who was assisted by native camel-drivers brought
from abroad. Among these was Philip Tedro, or Hi Jolly —
who had been picked up by Commodore Dave Porter— and
i8s8] Marriage — The Butterfield Stages 223
Greek George, years afterward host to bandit Vasquez; and
camels and drivers made several trips back and forth across
the Southwest country. Once headquartered at Fort Tejon,
they came to Los Angeles every few weeks for provisions ; each
time creating no little excitement among the adult population
and affording much amusement, as they passed along the
streets, to the small boy.
To return to Pancho Daniel, the escaped leader of the Bar-
ton murderers. He was heard from occasionally, as foraging
north toward San Luis Obispo, and was finally captured, after
repeated efforts to entrap and round him up, by Sheriff Murphy,
on January 19th, 1858, while hiding in a haystack near San Jose.
When he was brought to Los Angeles, he was jailed, and then
released on bail. Finally, Daniel's lawyers secured for him a
change of venue to Santa Barbara ; and this was the last abuse
that led the public again to administer a little law of its own.
Early on the morning of November 30th, Pancho's body was
found hanging by the neck at the gateway to the County Jail
yard, a handful of men having overpowered the keeper, secured
the key and the prisoner, and sent him on a journey with a
different destination from Santa Barbara.
On February 25th, fire started in Childs & Hicks's store, on
Los Angeles Street, and threatened both the Bella Union and
El Palacio, then the residence of Don Abel Stearns. The brick in
the building of Felix Bachman & Company and the volunteer
bucket-brigade prevented a general conflagration. Property
worth thousands of dollars was destroyed, Bachman & Com-
pany alone carrying insurance. The conflagration demon-
strated the need of a fire engine, and a subscription was started
to get one.
Weeks later workmen, rummaging among the debris, found
five thousand dollars in gold, which discovery produced no little
excitement. Childs claimed the money as his, saying that it
had been stolen from him by a thieving clerk; but the workmen,
undisturbed by law, kept the treasure.
A new four-page weekly newspaper appeared on March
24th, bearing the suggestive title, the Southern Vineyard,
224 Sixty Years in Southern California [1858
and the name of Colonel J. J. Warner, as editor. By December,
it had become a semi-weekly. Originally Democratic, it now
favored the Union party; it was edited with ability, but died
on June 8th, i860.
On March 24th, I married Sarah, second daughter of Joseph
Newmark, to whom I had been engaged since 1856. She was
born on January gth, 1841, and had come to live in Los Angeles
in 1854. The ceremony, performed by the bride's father, took
place at the family home, at what is now 501 North Main
Street, almost a block from the Plaza, on the site of the Bruns-
wig Drug Company ; and there we continued to live until about
i860.
At four o'clock, a small circle of intimates was wel-
comed at dinner; and in the evening there was a house-party
and dance, for which invitations printed on lace-paper, in the
typography characteristic of that day, had been sent out.
Among the friends who attended, were the military officers
stationed at Fort Tejon, including Major Bell, the commanding
officer, and Lieutenant John B. Magruder, formerly Colonel at
San Diego and later a Major General in the Civil War, com-
manding Confederate forces in the Peninsula and in Texas,
and eventually serving under Maximilian in Mexico. Other
friends still living in Los Angeles who were present are Mr.
and Mrs. S. Lazard, Mrs. S. C. Foy, William H. Workman,
C. E. Thom and H. D. Barrows. Men rarely went out un-
armed at night, and most of our male visitors doffed their
weapons — both pistols and knives — as they came in, spreading
them around in the bedrooms. The ladies brought their
babies with them for safe-keeping, and the same rooms were
placed at their disposal. Imagine, if you can, the appearance
of this nursery-arsenal !
It was soon after we were married that my wife said to me
one day, rather playfully, but with a touch of sadness, that our
meeting might easily have never taken place; and when I in-
quired what she meant, she described an awful calamity that
had befallen the Greenwich Avenue school in New York City,
which she attended as a little girl, and where several hun-
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i8s8] Marriage — The Butterfield Stages 225
dred pupils were distributed in different classrooms. The
building was foiu- stories in height; the ground floor paved
with stones, was used as a playroom; the primary department
was on the second floor; the more advanced pupils occupied
the third; while the top floor served as a lecture-room.
On the afternoon of November 20th, 1851, Miss Harrison,
the Principal of the young ladies' department, suddenly fell in a
faint, and the resulting screams for water, being misunderstood,
led to the awful cry of Fire! It was known that the pupils
made a dash for the various doors and were soon massed around
the stairway, yet a difference of opinion existed as to the cause
of the tragedy. My wife always said that the staircase, which
led from the upper to the first floor, en caracole, gave way, letting
the pupils fall; while others contended that the bannister
snapped asunder, hurling the crowded unfortunates over the
edge to the pavement beneath. A frightful fatality resulted.
Hundreds of pupils of all ages were precipitated in heaps on to
the stone floor, with a loss of forty-seven lives and a hundred
or more seriously crippled.
My wife, who was a child of but eleven years, was just
about to jump with the rest when a providential hand re-
strained and saved her.
News of the disaster quickly spread, and in a short time
the crowd of anxious parents, kinsfolk and friends who had
hastened to the scene in every variety of vehicle and on
foot, was so dense that the police had the utmost difficulty
in removing the wounded, dying and dead.
From Geneva, Switzerland, in 1854, a highly educated French
lady, Mile. Theresa Bry, whose oil portrait hangs in the
County Museum, reached Los Angeles, and four years later
married Frangois Henriot, a gardener by profession, who had
come from la belle France in 185 1. Together, on First Street
near Los Angeles, they conducted a private school which
enjoyed considerable patronage; removing the institution, in
the early eighties, to the Arroyo Seco district. This matrimonial
transaction, on account of the unequal social stations of the
respective parties, caused some little flurry : in contrast to
IS
226 Sixty Years in Southern California [1858
her own beauty and ladylike accomplishments, Frangois's
manners were unrefined, his stature short and squatty, while
his full beard (although it inspired respect, if not a certain
feeling of awe, when he came to exercise authority in the school)
was scraggy and unkempt. Mme. Henriot died in 1888,
aged eighty-seven years, and was followed to the grave by
her husband five years later.
In 1858, the outlook for business brightened in Los Angeles;
and Don Abel Stearns, who had acquired riches as a ranchero,
bmlt the Arcadia Block, on the corner of Los Angeles and
Arcadia streets, naming it after his wife. Dona Arcadia, who,
since these memoirs were commenced, has joined the silent
majority. The structure cost about eighty thousand dollars,
and was talked of for some time as the most notable business
block south of San Francisco. The newspapers hailed it as an
ornament to the city and a great step toward providing what
the small and undeveloped community then regarded as a fire-
proof structure for business purposes. Because, however, of
the dangerous overflow of the Los Angeles River in rainy seasons,
Stearns elevated the building above the grade of the street
and to such an extent that, for several years, his store-rooms
remained empty. But the enterprise at once bore some good
fruit; to make the iron doors and shutters of the block, he
started a foundry on New High Street and soon created some
local iron-casting trade.
On April 24th, Senora Guadalupe Romero died at the age,
it is said, of one hundred and fifteen years. She came to Los
Angeles, I was told, as far back as 1781, the wife of one of the
earliest soldiers sent here, and had thus lived in the pueblo
about seventy-seven years.
Some chapters in the life of Henry Melius are of more than
passing interest. Bom in Boston, he came to California in
1835, with Richard Henry Dana, in Captain Thompson's
brig Pilgrim made famous in the story of Two Years before the
Mast; clerked for Colonel Isaac Williams when that Chino
worthy had a little store where later the Bella Union stood;
returned to the East in 1837 and came back to the Coast the
1858] Marriage — The Butterfield Stages 227
second time as supercargo. Settling in San Francisco, he
formed with Howard the well-known firm of Howard & Melius,
which was wiped out, by the great fire, in 185 1. Again Melius
returned to Massachusetts, and in 1858 for a third time came
to California, at length casting his fortune with us in growing
Los Angeles. On Dana's return to San Pedro and the Pacific
Coast in 1859, Melius — who had married a sister of Francis
Mellus's wife and had become a representative citizen —
entertained the distinguished advocate and author, and drove
him around Los Angeles to view the once familiar and but little-
altered scenes. Dana bore all his honors modestly, apparently
quite oblivious of the curiosity displayed toward him and
quite as unconscious that he was making one of the memorable
visits in the early annals of the town. Dana Street serves as
a memorial to one who contributed in no small degree to render
the vicinity of Los Angeles famous.
Just what hotel life in Los Angeles was in the late fifties,
or about the time when Dana visited here, may be gathered from
an anecdote often told by Dr. W. F. Edgar, who came to the
City of the Angels for the first time in 1858. Dr. Edgar had
been ordered to join an expedition against the Mojave Indians
which was to start from Los Angeles for the Colorado River, and
he put up at the old Bella Union, expecting at least one good
night's rest before taking to the saddle again and making for
the desert. Dr. Edgar found, however, to his intense disgust,
that the entire second story was overcrowded with lodgers.
Singing and loud talking were silenced, in turn, by the protests
of those who wanted to sleep ; but finally a guest, too full for
expression but not so drunk that he was unable to breathe
hoarsely, staggered in from a Sonora Town ball, tumbled into
bed with his boots on, and commenced to snort, much like a pig.
Under ordinary circumstances, this infliction would have been
grievous enough; but the inner walls of the Bella Union were
never overthick, and the rhythmic snoring of the late-comer
made itself emphatically audible and proportionately obnoxious.
Quite as emphatic, however, were the objections soon raised
by the fellow-guests, who not only raised them but threw them.
228 Sixty Years in Southern California [isss
one after another — boots, bootjacks and sticks striking, with
heavy thud, the snorer's portal; but finding that even these
did not avail, the remonstrants, in various forms of deshabille,
rushed out and began to kick at the door of the objectionable
bedroom. Just at that moment the offender turned over with
a grunt ; and the excited army of lodgers, baffied by the unresist-
ing apathy of the sleeper, retreated, each to his nest. The
next day, breathing a sigh of relief, Edgar forsook the heavenly
regions of the Bella Union and made for Cajon Pass, eventu-
ally reaching the Colorado and the place where the expedition
found the charred remains of emigrants' wagons, the mournful
evidence of Indian treachery and atrocity.
Edgar's nocturnal experience reminds me of another in the
good old Bella Union. When Cameron E. Thom arrived here
in the spring of 1854, he engaged a room at the hotel which he
continued to occupy for several months, or until the rains of
1855 caused both roof and ceiling to cave in during the middle
of the night, not altogether pleasantly arousing him from his
slumbers. It was then that he moved to Joseph Newmark's,
where he lived for some time, through which circumstance we
became warm friends.
Big, husky, hearty Jacob Kuhrts, by birth a German and
now living here at eighty-one years of age, left home, as a mere
boy, for the sea, visiting California on a vessel from China
as early as 1848, and rushing off to Placer County on the out-
break of the gold-fever. Roughing it for several years and
narrowly escaping death from Indians, Jake made his first
appearance in Los Angeles in 1858, soon after which I met him,
when he was eking out a livelihood doing odd jobs about town,
a fact leading me to conclude that his success at the mines was
hardly commensiirate with the privations endured. It was
just about that time, when he was running a dray, that,
attracted by a dance among Germans, Jake dropped in as he
was; but how sorry an appearance he raade may perhaps be
fancied when I say that the door-keeper, eyeing him suspi-
ciously, refused him admission and advised him to go home and
put on his Sunday go-to-meetings. Jake went and, what is
i8s8] Marriage — The Butterfield Stages 229
more important, fortunately returned ; for while spinning around
on the knotty floor, he met, fell in love with and ogled Frau-
lein Susan Buhn, whom somewhat later he married. In 1864,
Kuhrts had a little store on Spring Street near the adobe City
Hall ; and there he prospered so well that by 1866 he had bought
the northwest corner of Main and First streets, and put up
the building he still owns. For twelve years he conducted a
grocery in a part of that structure, living with his family in
the second story, after which he was sufficiently prosperous to
retire. Active as his business life has been, Jake has proved
his patriotism time and again, devoting his efforts as a City
Father, and serving, sometimes without salary, as Superinten-
dent of Streets, Chief of the Fire Department and Fire Com-
missioner.
In 1858, John Temple built what is now the south wing of
the Temple Block standing directly opposite the Bullard
Building; but the IVIain Street stores being, like Stearns's
Arcadia Block, above the level of the sidewalk and, therefore,
reached only by several steps, proved unpopular and did not
rent, although Tischler & Schlesinger, heading a party of
grain-buyers, stored some wheat in them for a while or until
the grain, through its weight, broke the flooring, and was pre-
cipitated into the cellar; and even as late as 1859, after telegraph
connection with San Francisco had been completed, only one
little space on the Spring Street side, in size not more than eight
by ten feet, was rented, the telegraph company being the
tenants. One day William Wolfskill, pointing to the structure,
exclaimed to his friends: "What a pity that Temple put all his
money there ! Had he not gone into building so extravagantly,
he might now be a rich man." Wolfskill himself, however,
later commenced the construction of a small block on Main
Street, opposite the Bella Union, to be occupied by S. Lazard
& Company, but which he did not live to see completed.
Later on, the little town grew and, as this property became
more central. Temple removed the steps and built the stores
flush with the sidewalk, after which wide-awake merchants
began to move into them. One of Temple's first important
230 Sixty Years in Southern California [1858
tenants on Main Street was Daniel Desmond, the hatter. His
store was about eighteen by forty feet. Henry Slotterbeck,
the well-known gunsmith, was another occupant. He always
carried a large stock of gunpowder, which circumstance did not
add very much to the security of the neighborhood.
On the Court Street side, Jake Philippi was one of the first
to locate, and there he conducted a sort of Kneipe. His was a
large room, with a bar along the west side. The floor was
generously sprinkled with sawdust, and in comfortable arm-
chairs, around the good, old-fashioned redwood tables, fre-
quently sat many of his German friends and patrons, gathered
together to indulge in a game of Pedro, Skat or whist, and to pass
the time pleasantly away. Some of those who thus met to-
gether at Jake Phillippi's, at different periods of his occupancy,
were Dr. Joseph Kurtz, H. Heinsch, Conrad Jacoby, Abe Haas,
C. F. Heinzeman, P. Lazarus, Edward PoUitz, A. Elsaesser and
B. F. Drackenfeld, who was a brother-in-law of Judge Erskine
M. Ross and claimed descent from some dwellers on the
Rhine. He succeeded Frank Lecouvreur as bookkeeper for H.
Newmark & Company, and was in turn succeeded, on re-
moving to New York, by PoUitz ; while the latter was followed
by John S. Stower, an Englishman now residing in London,
whose immediate predecessor was Richard Altschul. Dracken-
feld attained prominence in New York, and both Altschul and
Pollitz in San Francisco. Of these, Drackenfeld and Pollitz
are dead.
Most of these convivial frequenters at Phillipi's belonged to
a sort of Deutscher Kluh which met, at another period, in a little
room in the rear of the corner of Main and Requena streets,
just over the cool cellar then conducted by Bayer & Sattler.
A stairway connected the two floors, and by means of that
communication the Klub obtained its supply of lager beer.
This fact recalls an amusing incident. When Philip Lauth and
Louis Schwarz succeeded Christian Henne in the management
of the brewery at the corner of Main and Third streets, the
Kluh was much dissatisfied with the new brew and forthwith
had Bayer & Sattler send to Milwatikee for beer made by
1858] Marriage — The Butterfield Stages 231
Philip Best. Getting wind of the matter, Lauth met the
competition by at once putting on the market a brand more
wittily than appropriately known as "Philip's Best." Sattler
left Los Angeles in the early seventies and established a
coffee-plantation in South America where, one day, he was
killed by a native wielding a machete.
The place, which was then known as Joe Bayer's, came to
belong to Bob Eckert, a German of ruddy complexion and
auburn hair, whose good-nature brought him so much patron-
age that in course of time he opened a large estabHshment at
Santa Monica.
John D. Woodworth, a cousin, so it was said, of Samuel
Woodworth, the author of The Old Oaken Bucket, and father of
Wallace Woodworth who died in 1883, was among the citizens
active here in 1858, being appointed Postmaster, on May 19th
of that year, by President Buchanan. Then the Post Office, for
a twelvemonth in the old Lanfranco Block, was transferred
north on Main Street until, a year or two later, it was located
near Temple and Spring streets.
In June, the Surveyor-General of California made an
unexpected demand on the authorities of Los Angeles County
for all the public documents relating to the County history
under Spanish and Mexican rule. The request was at first
refused ; but finally, despite the indignant protests of the press,
the invaluable records were shipped to San Francisco.
I believe it was late in the fifties that 0. W. Childs con-
tracted with the City of Los Angeles to dig a water-ditch, per-
haps sixteen hundred feet long, eighteen inches wide and about
eighteen inches deep. As I recollect the transaction, the City
allowed him one dollar per running foot, and he took land in
payment. While I cannot remember the exact location of this
land, it comprised in part the wonderfully important square
beginning at Sixth Street and running to Twelfth, and taking
in everything from Main Street as far as and including the pre-
sent Figueroa. When Childs put this property on the market,
his wife named several of the streets. Because of some grass-
hoppers in the vicinity, she called the extension of Pearl Street
232 Sixty Years in Southern California [1858
(now Figueroa) Grasshopper or Calle de los Chapules ' ; her Faith
Street has been changed to Flower ; for the next street to the
East, she selected the name of Hope; while as if to complete
the trio of the Graces, she christened the adjoining roadway
■ — since become Grand — Charity. The old Childs home place
sold to Henry E. Huntington some years ago, and which has
been subdivided, was a part of this land.
None of the old settlers ever placed much value on real
estate, and Childs had no sooner closed this transaction than
he proceeded to distribute some of the land among his own
and his wife's relatives. He also gave to the Catholic Church
the block later bounded by Sixth and Seventh streets, between
Broadway and Hill; where, until a few years ago, stood St.
Vincent's College, opened in 1855 on the Plaza, on the site now
occupied by the Pekin Curio Store. In the Boom year of 1887,
the Church authorities sold this block for one hundred thotJsand
dollars and moved the school to the corner of Charity and
Washington streets.
Andrew A. Boyle, for whom the eastern subiu-b of Los
Angeles, Boyle Heights, was named by William H. Workman,
arrived here in 1858. As early as 1848, Boyle had set out from
Mexico, where he had been in business, to return to the United
States, taking with him some twenty thousand Mexican dol-
lars, at that time his entire fortune, safely packed in a forti-
fied claret box. While attempting to board a steamer from
a frail skiff at the mouth of the Rio Grande, the churning by
the paddle-wheels capsized the skiff, and Boyle and his treasure
were thrown into the water. Boyle narrowly escaped with his
life ; but his treasure went to the bottom, never to be recovered.
It was then said that Boyle had perished; and his wife, on
hearing the false report, was killed by the shock. Quite as
serious, perhaps, was the fact that an infant daughter was left
on his hands — the same daughter who later became the wife
of my friend, William H. Workman. Confiding this child to an
aunt, Boyle went to the Isthmus where he opened a shoe store ;
'A Mexican corruption of the Aztec chapollin, grasshopper. Cf. Chaptilte-
pec, Grasshopper Hill. — Charles F. Lummis.
1858] Marriage — The Butterfield Stages 233
and later coming north, after a San Francisco experience in
the wholesale boot and shoe business, he settled on the bluff
which was to be thereafter associated with his family name.
He also planted a small vineyard, and in the early seventies
commenced to make wine, digging a cellar out of the hill to
store his product.
The brick house, built by Boyle on the Heights in 1858 and
always a center of hospitality, is still standing, although
recently remodeled by William H. Workman, Jr. (brother of
Boyle Workman, the banker), who added a third story and
made a cosy dwelling ; and it is probably, therefore, the oldest
brick structure in that part of the town.
Mendel was a younger brother of Sam Meyer, and it is
my impression that he arrived here in the late fifties. He orig-
inally clerked for his brother, and for a short time was in part-
nership with him and Hilliard Loewenstein. In time, Meyer
engaged in business for himself. During a number of his best
years, Mendel was well thought of socially, with his fiddle often
affording much amusement to his friends. All in all, he
was a good-hearted, jovial sort of a chap, who too readily
gave to others of his slender means. About 1875, he made
a visit to Europe and spent more than he could afford. At
any rate, in later life he did not prosper. He died in Los
Angeles a number of years ago.
Thomas Copley came here in 1858, having met with
many hardships while driving an ox-team from Fort Leaven-
worth to Salt Lake and tramped the entire eight hundred
miles between the Mormon capital and San Bernardino. On
arriving, he became a waiter and worked for a while for the
Sisters' Hospital; subsequently he married a lady of about
twice his stature, retiring to private life with a competence.
Another arrival of the late fifties was Manuel Ravenna,
an Italian. He started a grocery store and continued the
venture for some time; then he entered the saloon busi-
ness on Main Street. Ravenna commissioned Wells Fargo
& Company to bring by express the first ice shipped to Los
Angeles for a commercial purpose, paying for it an initial price
234 Sixty Years in Southern California [1858
of twelve and a half cents per pound. The ice came packed
in blankets ; but the loss by melting, plus the expense of getting
it here, made the real cost about twenty-four cents a pound.
Nevertheless, it was a clever and profitable move, and brought
Ravenna nearly all of the best trade in town.
John Butterfield was originally a New York stage-driver and
later the organizer of the American Express Company, as well
as projector of the Morse telegraph line between New York and
Buffalo. As the head of John Butterfield & Company, he was
one of my customers in 1857. He contracted with the United
States, in 1858, as President of the Overland Mail Company, to
carry mail between San Francisco and the Missouri River. To
make this possible, sections of the road, afterward popularly
referred to as the Butterfield Route, were built; and the sur-
veyors. Bishop and Beale, were awarded the contract for part
of the work. It is my recollection that they used for this
purpose some of the camels imported by the United States
Government, and that these animals were in charge of Greek
George to whom I have already referred.
Butterfield chose a route from San Francisco coming down
the Coast to Gilroy, San Jose and through the mountain passes ;
on to Visalia and Fort Tejon, and then to Los Angeles, in all
some four hundred and sixty-two miles. From Los Angeles it
ran eastward through El Monte, San Bernardino, Temecula
and Warner's Ranch to Fort Yuma, and then by way of El Paso
to St. Louis. In this manner, Butterfield arranged for what
was undoubtedly the longest continuous stage-line ever estab-
lished, the entire length being about two thousand, eight hun-
dred and eighty miles. The Butterfield stages began running in
September, 1858; and when the first one from the East reached
Los Angeles on October 7th, just twenty days after it started,
there was a great demonstration, accompanied by bon-fires and
the firing of cannon. On this initial trip, just one passenger
made the through journey — W. L. Ormsby, a reporter for the
New York Herald. This stage reached San Francisco on October
loth, and there the accomplishment was the occasion, as we
soon heard, of almost riotous enthusiasm.
i8s8] Marriage — The Butterfield Stages 235
Stages were manned by a driver and a conductor or mes-
senger, both heavily armed. Provender and relief stations were
established along the route, as a rule not more than twenty
miles apart, and sometimes half that distance. The schedule
first called for two stages a week, then one stage in each direc-
tion, every other day ; and after a while this plan was altered to
provide for a stage every day. There was little regularity,
however, in the hours of departure, and still less in the time
of arrival, and I recollect once leaving for San Francisco at
the unearthly hour of two o'clock in the morning.
So uncertain, indeed, were the arrival and departure of
stages, that not only were passengers often left behind, but mails
were actually undelivered because no authorized person was on
hand, in the lone hours of the night, to receive and distribute
them. Such a ridiculous incident occurred in the fall of 1858,
when bags of mail destined for Los Angeles were carried on
to San Francisco, and were returned by the stage making its
way south and east, fully six days later! Local newspapers
were then more or less dependent for their exchanges from
the great Eastern centers on the courtesy of drivers or
agents; and editors were frequently acknowledging the
receipt of such bundles, from which, with scissors and paste,
they obtained the so-called news items furnished to their
subscribers.
George Lechler, here in 1853, who married Henry Hazard's
sister, drove a Butterfield stage and picked up orders for me
from customers along the route.
B. W. Pyle, a Virginian by birth, arrived in Los Angeles in
1858, and became, as far as I can recall, the first exclusive
jeweler and watchmaker, although Charley Ducommim, as
I have said, had handled jewelry and watches some years
before in connection with other things. Pyle's store adjoined
that of Newmark, Kremer & Company on Commercial Street,
and I soon became familiar with his methods. He com-
missioned many of the stage-drivers to work up business for him
on the Butterfield Route; and as his charges were enormous, he
was enabled, within three or four years, to establish himself in
236 Sixty Years in Southern California [1858
New York. He was an exceedingly clever and original man and
a good student of human affairs, and I well remember his pre-
diction that, if Lincoln should be elected President, there would
be Civil War. When the United States Government first had
under consideration the building of a trans-isthmian canal,
Pyle bought large tracts of land in Nicaragua, believing that the
Nicaraguan route would eventually be chosen. Shortly after
the selection of the PanamS, survey, however, I read one day in
a local newspaper that B. W. Pyle had shot himself, at the age
of seventy years.
In 1857, Phineas Banning purchased from one of the Do-
minguez brothers an extensive tract some miles to the North
of San Pedro, along the arm of the sea, and established a new
landing which, in a little while, was to monopolize the harbor
business and temporarily affect all operations at the old place.
Here, on September 25th, 1858, he started a community called at
first both San Pedro New Town and New San Pedro, and later
Wilmington — the latter name suggested by the capital of
Banning's native State of Delaware. Banning next cultivated
a tract of six hundred acres, planted with grain and fruit
where, among other evidences of his singular enterprise, there was
soon to be seen a large well, connected with a steam pump of
sufficient force to supply the commercial and irrigation wants of
both Wilmington and San Pedro. Banning's founding of the
former town was due, in part, to heavy losses sustained through
a storm that seriously damaged his wharf, and in part to his
desire to outdo J. J. Tomlinson, his chief business rival. The
inauguration of the new shipping point, on October 1st, 1858,
was celebrated by a procession on the water, when a line of
barges loaded with visitors from Los Angeles and vicinity, and
with freight, was towed to the decorated landing. A feature
of the dedication was the assistance rendered by the ladies,
who even tugged at the hawser, following which host and guests
liberally partook of the sparkling beverages contributing to
enliven the festive occasion.
In a short time, the shipping there gave evidence of Ban-
ning's wonderful go-ahead spirit. He had had built, in San
1858] Marriage — The Butterfield Stages 237
Francisco, a small steamer and some lighters, for the purpose of
carrying passengers and baggage to the large steamships lying
outside the harbor. The enterprise was a shrewd move, for it
shortened the stage-trip about six miles and so gave the new
route a considerable advantage over that of all competitors.
Banning, sometimes dubbed "the Admiral," about the same
time presented town lots to all of his friends (including Eugene
Meyer and myself) , and with Timms Landing, the place became
a favorite beach resort ; but for want of foresight, most of these
same lots were sold for taxes in the days of long ago. I kept
mine for many years and finally sold it for twelve hundred
dollars; while Meyer still owns his. As for Banning himself,
he built a house on Canal Street which he occupied many years,
until he moved to a more commodious home situated half a
mile north of the original location.
At about this period, three packets plied between San
Francisco and San Diego every ten days, leaving the Com-
mercial Street wharf of the Northern city and stopping at
various intermediate points including Wilmington. These
packets were the clipper-brig Pride of the Sea, Captain Joseph
S. Garcia; the clipper-brig Boston, Commander W. H. Martin;
and the clipper-schooner Lewis Perry, then new and in charge
of Captain Hughes.
In the fall of 1858, finding that our business was not suffi-
ciently remunerative to support four families, Newmark,
Kremer & Company dissolved. In the dissolution, I took the
clothing part of the business, Newmark & Kremer retaining
the dry goods.
In November or December, Dr. John S. Griffin acquired
San Pasqual rancho, the fine property which had once been
the pride of Don Manuel Garfias. The latter had borrowed
three thousand dollars, at four per cent, per month, to complete
his manorial residence, which cost some six thousand dollars
to build; but the ranch proving unfavorable for cattle, and Don
Manuel being a poor manager, the debt of three thousand dol-
lars soon grew into almost treble the original amount. When
Griffin purchased the place, he gave Garfias an additional two
238 Sixty Years in Southern California [1858
thousand dollars to cover the stock, horses and ranch- tgols ;
but even at that the doctor drove a decided bargain. As early
as 1852, Garfias had applied to the Land Commission for a
patent; but this was not issued until April 3d, 1863, and the
document, especially interesting because it bore the signatiire of
Abraham Lincoln, brought little consolation to Garfias or his
proud wife, nee Abila, who had then signed away all claim to
the splendid property which was in time to play such a role in
the development of Los Angeles, Pasadena and their environs.
On November 20th, Don Bernardo Yorba died, bequeathing
to numerous children and grandchildren an inheritance of one
hundred and ten thousand dollars' worth of personal property,
in addition to thirty-seven thousand acres of land.
Sometime in December, 1858, Juan Domingo — or, as he
was often called, Juan Cojo or "Lame John," because of a
peculiar limp — died at his vineyard on the south side of
Aliso Street, having for years enjoyed the esteem of the
community as a good, substantial citizen. Domingo, who
successfully conducted a wine and brandy business, was a
Hollander by birth, and in his youth had borne the name of
Johann Groningen; but after coming to California and settling
among the Latin element, he had changed it, for what reason
will never be known, to Juan Domingo, the Spanish for John
Sunday. The coming of Domingo, in 1827, was not without
romance; he was a ship's carpenter and one of a crew of twenty-
five on the brig Danube which sailed from New York and was
totally wrecked off San Pedro, only two or three souls (among
them Domingo) being saved and hospitably welcomed by the
citizens. On February 12th, 1839, he married a Spanish woman,
Reymunda Feliz, by whom he had a large family of children.
A son, J. A. Domingo, was living until at least recently. A
souvenir of Domingo's lameness, in the County Museum, is a
cane with which the doughty sailor often defended himself.
Samuel Prentiss, a Rhode Islander, was another of the Danube's
shipwrecked sailors who was saved. He hunted and fished for
a Uving and, about 1864 or 1865, died on CataUna Island; and
there, in a secluded spot, not far from the seat of his labors,
i858] Marriage — The Butterfield Stages 239
he was buried. As the result of a complicated lumber deal,
Ca,ptain Joseph S. Garcia, of the Pride of the Sea, obtained an
interest in a small vineyard owned by Juan Domingo and
Sainsevain ; and through this relation Garcia became a minor
partner of Sainsevain in the Cucamonga winery. Mrs. Garcia
is Uving in Pomona; the Captain died some ten years ago at
Ontario.
A propos of the three Louis, referred to — Breer, Lichtenberger
and Roeder — all of that sturdy German stock which makes for
good American citizenship, I do not suppose that there is any
record of the exact date of Breer's arrival, although I imagine
that it was in the early sixties. Lichtenberger, who served both as
a City Father and City Treasurer, arrived in 1864, while Roeder
used to boast that the ship on which he sailed to San Francisco,
just prior to his coming to Los Angeles, in 1856 brought the
first news of Buchanan's election to the Presidency. Of the
three, Breer- — who was known as Iron Louis, on account of his
magnificent physique, suggesting the poet's smith, "with large
and sinewy hands," and muscles as "strong as iron bands," — was
the least successful; and trxily, till the end of his days, he earned
his living by the sweat of his brow. In 1865, Lichtenberger
and Roeder formed a partnership which, in a few years, was
dissolved, each of them then conducting business independently
until, in comfortable circumstances, he retired. Roeder, an
early and enthusiastic member of the Pioneers, is never so proud
as when paying his last respects to a departed comrade: his
unfeigned sorrow at the loss apparently being compensated for,
if one may so express it, by the recognition he enjoyed as one
of the society's official committee. Two of the three Louis are
dead. ' Other early wheelwrights and blacksmiths were Richard
Maloney, on Aliso Street, near Lamboum & Turner's grocery,
and Page & Gravel, who took John Goller's shop when he
joined F. Foster at his Aliso Street forge.
"Louis Roeder died on February 20, 1915
CHAPTER XVII
ADMISSION TO CITIZENSHIP
1859
IN 1858, my brother, to whom the greater opportunities of
San Francisco had long appealed, decided upon a step
that was to affect considerably my own modest affairs.
This was to remove permanently to the North, with my sister-
in-law; and in the Los Angeles Star of January 22d, 1859, there
appeared the following:
Mr. Joseph P. Newmark has established a commission-
house in San Francisco, with a branch in this city. From his
experience in business, Mr. Newmark will be a most desirable
agent for the sale of our domestic produce in the San Francisco
market, and we have no doubt will obtain the confidence of our
merchants and shippers.
This move of my brother's was made, as a matter of fact, at
a time when Los Angeles, in one or two respects at least, seemed
promising. On September 30th, the building commenced by
John Temple in the preceding February, on the site of the pres-
ent BuUard Block, was finished. Most of the upper floor was
devoted to a theater, and I am inclined to think that the balance
of the building was leased to the City, the court room being
next to the theater, and the ground floor being used as a
market. To the latter move there was considerable opposi-
tion, affecting, as the expenditures did, taxes and the public
treasury; and one newspaper, after a spirited attack on the
"Black Republicans," concluded its editorial with this patri-
otic appeal :
240
[i8s9] Admission to Citizenship 241
Citizens! Attend to your interests; guard your pocket-
books !
This building is one of the properties to which I refer as sold
by Hinchman, having been bought by Dr. J. S. Griffin and B.
D. Wilson who resold it in time to the County.
A striking feature of this market building was the town clock,
whose bell was pronounced "fine-toned and sonorous." The
clock and bell, however, were destined to share the fate of the
rest of the structure which, all in all, was not very well con-
structed. At last, the heavy rains of the early sixties played
havoc with the tower, and toward the end of 1861 the clock
had set such a pace for itself regardless of the rest of the uni-
verse that the newspapers were full of facetious jibes concerning
the once serviceable timepiece, and many were the queries as
to whether something could not be done to roof the mechanism ?
The clock, however, remained uncovered until Bullard de-
molished the building to make room for the present structure.
Elsewhere I have referred to the attempt, shortly after I
arrived here, or during the session of the Legislature of 1854-55,
to divide California into two states — the proposition, be it
added of a San Bernardino County representative. A committee
of thirteen, from different sections of the commonwealth, later
substituted a bill providing for three states: Shasta, in the
North; California, at the middle; Colorado, in the South; but
nothing evolving as a result of the effort, our Assemblyman,
Andres Pico, in 1859 fathered a measure for the segregation of
the Southern counties under the name of Colorado, when this
bill passed both houses and was signed by the Governor. It
had to be submitted to the people, however, at the election in
September, 1859; and although nearly twenty-five hundred
ballots were cast in favor of the division, as against eight
hundred in the negative, the movement was afterward stifled
in Washington.
Damien Marchessault and Victor Beaudry having enthusi-
astically organized the Santa Anita Mining Company in 1858,
H. N. Alexander, agent at Los Angeles for Wells Fargo &
Company, in 1859 announced that the latter had provided
242 Sixty Years in Southern California [1859
scales for weighing gold-dust and were prepared to transact a
general exchange business. This was the same firm that had
come through the crisis with unimpaired credit when Adams
& Company and many others went to the wall in the great
financial crash of 1855.
I have mentioned the Mormon Colony at San Bernardino
and its connection, as an offshoot, with the great Mormon city,
Salt Lake; now I may add that each winter, for fifteen or
twenty years, or until railroad connection was established, a
lively and growing trade was carried on between "Los Angeles
and Utah. This was because the Mormons had no open road
toward the outside world, except in the direction of South-
ern California; for snow covered both the Rockies and the
Sierra Nevadas, and closed every other highway and trail.
A number of Mormon wagon-trains, therefore, went back and
forth every winter over the seven hundred miles or more of
fairly level, open roadways, between Salt Lake and Los Angeles,
taking back not only goods bought here but much that was
shipped from San Francisco to Salt Lake via San Pedro. I
remember that in February, 1859, these Mormon wagons
arrived by the Overland Route almost daily.
The third week in February witnessed one of the most
interesting gatherings of rancheros characteristic of Southern
California life I have ever seen. It was a typical rodeo, last-
ing two or three days, for the separating and re-grouping of cat-
tle and horses, and took place at the residence of William
Workman at La Puente rancho. Strictly speaking, the rodeo
continued but two days, or less; for, inasmuch as the cattle to
be sorted and branded had to be deprived for the time being of
their customary nourishment, the work was necessarily one of
despatch. Under the direction of a Judge of the Plains — on
this occasion, the polished cavalier, Don Felipe Lugo — they
were examined, parted and branded, or re-branded, with hot
irons impressing a mark (generally a letter or odd mono-
gram) duly registered at the Court House and protected by
the County Recorder's certificate. Never have I seen finer
horsemanship than was there displayed by those whose task it
1859] Admission to Citizenship 243
was to pursue the animal and throw the lasso around the
head or leg ; and as often as most of those present had probably
seen the feat performed, great was their enthusiasm when each
vaquero brought down his victim. Among the guests were
most of the rancheros of wealth and note, together with their
attendants, all of whom made up a company ready to enjoy
the unlimited hospitality for which the Workmans were so
renowned.
Aside from the business in hand of disposing of such an
enormous number of mixed-up cattle in so short a time, what
made the occasion one of keen delight was the remarkable,
almost astounding ability of the horseman in controlling his
animal ; for lassoing cattle was not his only forte. The vaquero of
early days was a clever rider and handler of horses, particularly
the bronco — so often erroneously spelled broncho — sometimes
a mustang, sometimes an Indian pony. Out of a drove that
had never been saddled, he would lasso one, attach a halter to
his neck and blindfold him by means of a strap some two or
three inches in width fastened to the halter; after which he
would suddenly mount the bronco and remove the blind, when
the horse, unaccustomed to discipline or restraint, would buck
and kick for over a quarter of a mile, and then stop only because
of exhaustion. With seldom a mishap, however, the vaquero
almost invariably broke the mustang to the saddle within three
or four days. This little Mexican horse, while perhaps not
so graceful as his American brother, was noted for endurance ;
and he could lope from morning till night, if necessary, without
evidence of serious fatigue.
Speaking of this dexterity, I may add that now and then
the early Californian vaquero gave a good exhibition of his
prowess in the town itself. Runaways, due in part to the
absence of hitching posts but frequently to carelessness,
occurred daily ; and sometimes a clever horseman who happened
to be near would pursue, overtake and lasso the frightened
steed before serious harm had been done.
Among the professional classes, J. Lancaster Brent was
always popular, but never more welcomed than on his return
244 Sixty Years in Southern California [1859
from Washington on February 26th, 1859, when he brought the
United States patent to the Dominguez rancho, dated December
i8th, 1858, and the first document of land conveyance from the
American Government to reach CaHfornia.
In mercantile circles, Adolph Portugal became somewhat
prominent, conducting a flourishing business here for a number
of years after opening in 1854, and accumulating, before 1865,
about seventy-five thousand dollars. With this money he then
left Los Angeles and went to Europe, where he made an ex-
tremely unprofitable investment. He returned to Los Angeles
and again engaged in mercantile pursuits; but he was never able
to recover, and died a pauper.
Corbitt, who at one time controlled, with Dibblee, great
ranch areas near Santa Barbara, and in 1859 was in partnership
with Barker, owned the Santa Anita rancho, which he later
sold to William Wolfskill. From Los Angeles, Corbitt went to
Oregon, where he became, I think, a leading banker.
Louis Mesmer arrived here in 1858, then went to Fraser
River and there, in eight months, he made twenty thousand
dollars by baking for the Hudson Bay Company's troops.
A year later he was back in Los Angeles; and on Main Street,
somewhere near Requena, he started a bakery. In time he
controlled the local bread trade, supplying among others the
Government troops here. In 1864, Mesmer bought out the
United States Hotel, previously run by Webber & Haas, and
finally purchased from Don Juan N. Padilla the land on which
the building stood. This property, costing three thousand
dollars, extended one hundred and forty feet on Main Street
and ran through to Los Angeles, on which street it had a
frontage of about sixty feet. Mesmer's son Joseph is still
living and is active in civic afifairs.
William Nordholt, a Forty-niner, was also a resident of
Los Angeles for some time. He was a carpenter and worked
in partnership with Jim Barton; and when Barton was elected
Sheriff, Nordholt continued in business for himself. At length,
in 1859, he opened a grocery store on the northwest corner of
Los Angeles and First streets, which he conducted for many
i8s9] Admission to Citizenship 245
years. Even in 1853, when I first knew him, Nordholt had
made a good start ; and he soon accumulated considerable real
estate on First Street, extending from Los Angeles to Main.
He shared his possessions with his Spanish wife, who attended
to his grocery ; but after his death, in perhaps the late seventies,
his children wasted their patrimony.
Notwithstanding the opening of other hotels, the Bella
Union continued throughout the fifties to be the representa-
tive headquarters of its kind in Los Angeles and for a wide
area around. On April 19th, 1856, Flashner & Hammell took
hold of the establishment ; and a couple of years after that,
Dr. J. B. Winston, who had had local hotel experience, joined
Flashner and together they made improvements, adding the
second story, which took five or six months to complete. This
step forward in the hostelry was duly celebrated, on April 14th,
1859, at a dinner, the new dining-room being advertised, far
and wide, as "one of the finest in all California."
Shortly after this, however, Marcus Flashner (who owned
some thirty-five acres at the corner of Main and Washington
streets, where he managed either a vineyard or an orange
orchard) , met a violent death. He used to travel to and from
this property in a buggy; and one day — ^June 29th, 1859 — his
horse ran away, throwing him out and killing him. In i860,
John King, Flashner's brother-in-law, entered the management
of the Bella Union; and by 1861, Dr. Winston had sole control.
Strolling again, in imagination, into the old Bella Union of
this time, I am reminded of a novel method then employed to
call the guests to their meals. When I first came to Los Angeles
the hotel waiter rang a large bell to announce that all was ready;
but about the spring of 1859 the fact that another meal had
been concocted was signalized by the blowing of a shrill steam-
whistle placed on the hotel's roof. This brought together
both the "regulars" and transients, everyone scurrying to be
first at the dining-room door.
About the middle of April, Wells Fargo & Company's
rider made a fast run between San Pedro and Los Angeles,
bringing all the mail matter from the vessels, and covering the
246 Sixty Years in Southern California [1859
more than twenty-seven miles of the old roundabout route in
less than an hour.
The Protestant Church has been represented in Los Angeles
since the first service in Mayor Nichols' home and the mission-
ary work of Adam Bland; but it was not until May 4th, 1859,
that any attempt was made to erect an edifice for the Protestants
in the community. Then a committee, including Isaac S. K.
Ogier, A. J. King, Columbus Sims, Thomas Foster, William H.
Shore, N. A. Potter, J. R. Gitchell and Henry D. Barrows
began to collect funds. Reverend William E. Boardman, an
Episcopalian, was invited to take charge; but subscriptions
coming in slowly, he conducted services, first in one of the
school buildings and then in the Court House, until 1862 when
he left.
Despite its growing communication with San Francisco,
Los Angeles for years was largely dependent upon sail and
steamboat service, and each year the need of a better highway
to the North, for stages, became more and more apparent.
Finally, in May, 1859, General Ezra Drown was sent as a
commissioner to Santa Barbara, to discuss the construction of
a road to that city ; and on his return he declared the project
quite practicable. The Supervisors* had agreed to devote a
certain sum of money, and the Santa Barbareiios, on their part,
were to vote on the proposition of appropriating fifteen thousand
dollars for the work. Evidently the citizens voted favorably;
for in July of the following year James Thompson, of Los
Angeles, contracted for making the new road through Santa
Barbara County, from the Los Angeles to the San Luis Obispo
lines, passing through Ventura — or San Buenaventura, as it
was then more poetically called — Santa Barbara and out by
the Gaviota Pass; in all, a distance of about one hundred and
twenty-five miles. Some five or six months were required
to finish the rough work, and over thirty thousand dollars
was expended for that alone.
Winfield Scott Hancock, whom I came to know well and
who had been here before, arrived in Los Angeles in May,
J 859, to establish a depot for the Quartermaster's Department
1859] Admission to Citizenship 247
which he finally located at Wilmington, naming it Dram
Barracks, after Adjutant-General Richard Coulter Drum, for
several years at the head of the Department of the West.
Hancock himself was Quartermaster and had an office in a
brick building on Main Street near Third ; and he was in charge
of all Government property here and at Yuma, Arizona Terri-
tory, then a military post. He thus both bought and sold;
advertising at one time, for example, a call for three or four
hundred thousand pounds of barley, and again offering for sale,
on behalf of poor Uncle Sam, the important item of a lone,
braying mule! Hancock invested liberally in California
projects, and became interested, with others, in the Bear
Valley mines ; and at length had the good luck to strike a rich
and paying vein of gold quartz.
Beaudry & Marchessault were among the first handlers of
ice in Los Angeles, having an ice-house in 1859, where, in the
springtime, they stored the frozen product taken from the
mountain lakes fifty miles away. The ice was cut into cubes
of about one hundred pounds each, packed down the canons
by a train of thirty to forty mules, and then brought in wagons
to Los Angeles. By September, i860, wagon-loads of San
Bernardino ice — or perhaps one would better say compact
snow — were hawked about town and bought up by saloon-
keepers and others, having been transported in the way I have
just described, a good seventy -five miles. Later, ice was shipped
here from San Francisco; and soon after it reached town, the
saloons displayed signs soliciting orders.
Considering the present popularity of the silver dollar
along the entire Western Coast, it may be interesting to recall
the stamping of these coins, for the first time in California, at
the San Francisco mint. This was in the spring of 1859, soon
after which they began to appear in Los Angeles. A few years
later, in 1863, and for ten or fifteen years thereafter, silver
half-dimes, coined in San Francisco, were to be seen here
occasionally; but they were never popular. The larger silver
piece, the dime, was more common, although for a while it
also had little purchasing power. As late as the early seventies
248 Sixty Years in Southern California [1839
it was not welcome, and many a time I have seen dimes
thrown into the street as if they were worthless. This pre-
judice against the smaller silver coins was much the same as
the feeling which even to-day obtains with many people on the
Coast against the copper cent. When the nickel, in the eight-
ies, came into use, the old Californian tradition as to coinage
began to disappear; and this opened the way for the intro-
duction of the one-cent piece, which is more and more coming
into popular favor.
In the year 1859, the Hellman brothers, Isaias W. and
Herman W., arrived here in a sailing-vessel with Captain
Morton. I. W. Hellman took a clerkship with his cousin,
I. M. Hellman, who had arrived in 1854 and was established
in the stationery line in Mellus's Row, while H. W. Hellman
went to work in June, 1859, for Phineas Banning, at Wil-
mington. I. W. Hellman immediately showed much ability
and greatly improved his cousin's business. By 1865, he was
in trade for himself, selling dry-goods at the corner of Main
and Commercial streets as the successor to A. Portugal ; while
H. W. Hellman, father of Marco H. Hellman, the banker,
and father-in-law of the public-spirited citizen, Louis M. Cole,
became my competitor, as will be shown later, in the wholesale
grocery business.
John Philbin, an Irishman, arrived here penniless late in the
fifties, but with my assistance started a small store at Fort
-Tejon, then a military post necessary for the preservation of
order on the Indian Reservation; and there, during the short
space of eighteen months, he accumulated twenty thousand
dollars. Illness compelled him to leave, and I bought his
business and property. After completing this purchase, I en-
gaged a clerk in San Francisco to manage the new branch. As
John Philbin had been very popular, the new clerk also called
himself "John " and soon enjoyed equal favor. It was only
when Bob Wilson came into town one day from the Fort and
told me, "That chap John is gambling your whole damned
business away; he plays seven-up at twenty dollars a game,
and when out of cash, puts up blocks of merchandise," that I
i8s9] Admission to Citizenship 249
investigated and discharged him, sending Kaspare Cohn, who
had recently arrived from Europe, to take his place.
It was in 1859, or a year before Abraham Lincoln was
elected President, that I bought out Philbin, and at the break-
ing out of the War, the troops were withdrawn from Fort
Tejon, thus ending my activity there as a merchant. We
disposed of the stock as best we could; but the building,
which had cost three thousand dollars, brought at forced sale just
fifty. Fort Tejon, established about 1854, I may add, after
it attained some fame as the only military post in Southern
California where snow ever fell, and also" as the scene of the
earthquake phenomena I have described, was abandoned alto-
gether as a military station on September nth, 1864. Philbin
removed to Los Angeles, where he invested in some fifty acres
of vineyard along San Pedro Street, extending as far south as
the present Pico ; and I still have a clear impression of the typi-
cal old adobe there, so badly damaged by the rains of 1890.
Kaspare remained in my employ until he set up in business
at Red Bluff, Tehama County, where he continued until Jan-
uary, 1866. In more recent years, he has come to occupy an
enviable position as a successful financier.
Somewhat less than six years after my arrival (or, to be
accurate, on the fifteenth day of August, 1859, about the time
of my mother's death at Loebau) , and satisfying one of my most
ardent ambitions, I entered the family of Uncle Sam, carrying
from the District Court here a red-sealed document, to me of
great importance ; my newly-acquired citizenship being attested
by Ch. R. Johnson, Clerk, and John 0. Wheeler, Deputy.
On September 3d, the Los Angeles Star made the following
announcement and salutation:
Called to the Bar — At the present term of the District
Court for the First Judicial District, Mr. M. J. Newmark was
called to the bar. We congratulate Mr. Newmark on his
success, and wish him a brilliant career in his profession.
This kindly reference was to my brother-in-law, who had
read law in the office of E. J. C. Kewen, then on Main Street,
250 Sixty Years in Southern California [1859
opposite the Bella Union, and had there, in the preceding
January, when already eleven attorneys were practicing here,
hung out his shingle as Notary Public and Conveyancer —
an office to which he was reappointed by the Governor in i860,
soon after he had been made Commissioner for the State of
Missouri to reside in Los Angeles. About that same time he
began to take a lively interest in politics; being elected, on
October 13th, i860, a delegate to the Democratic County Con-
vention. A. J. King was also admitted to the Bar toward the
end of that year.
We who have such praise for the rapid growth of the
population in Los Angeles must not forget the faithful mid-
wives of early days, when there was not the least indication
that there would ever be a lying-in hospital here. First, one
naturally recalls old Mrs. Simmons, the Sarah Gamp of the
fifties; while her professional sister of the sixties was Lydia
Rebbick, whose name also will be pleasantly spoken by old-
timers. A brother of Mrs. Rebbick was James H. Whitworth,
a rancher, who came to Los Angeles County in 1857.
Residents of Los Angeles to-day have but a faint idea, I
suppose, of what exertion we cheerfully submitted to, forty or
fifty years ago, in order to participate in a little pleasure.
This was shown at an outing in 1859, on and by the sea, made
possible through the courtesy of my hospitable friend, Phineas
Banning, details of which illustrate the social conditions then
prevailing here.
Banning had invited fifty or sixty ladies and gentlemen to
accompany him to Catalina; and at about half -past five o'clock
on a June morning the guests arrived at Banning's residence
where they partook of refreshments. Then they started in
decorated stages for New San Pedro, where the host (who, by
the way, was a man of most genial temperament, fond of a joke
and sure to infuse others with his good-heartedness) regaled
his friends with a hearty breakfast, not forgetting anything
likely to both warm and cheer. After ample justice had been
done to this feature, the picknickers boarded Banning's little
steamer Comet and made for the outer harbor.
i8s9] Admission to Citizenship 251
There they were transferred to the United States Coast
Survey ship Active, which steamed away so spiritedly that in
two hours the passengers were off Catalina ; nothing meanwhile
having been left undone to promote the comfort of everyone
aboard the vessel. During this time Captain Alder and his
officers, resplendent in their naval uniforms, held a reception;
and unwilling that the merrymakers should be exposed without
provisions to the wilds of the less-trodden island, they set be-
fore them a substantial ship's dinner. Once ashore, the visitors
strolled along the beach and across that part of the island
then most familiar; and at four o'clock the members of the
party were again walking the decks of the Government vessel.
Steaming back slowly, San Pedro was reached after sundown;
and, having again been bundled into the stages, the excxursionists
were back in Los Angeles about ten o'clock.
I have said that most of the early political meetings took
place at the residence of Don Ygnacio del Valle. I recall,
however, a mass meeting and barbecue, in August, 1859, ^^ a
grove at El Monte owned by inn-keeper Thompson. Benches
were provided for the ladies, prompting the editor of the Star to
observe, with characteristic gallantry, that the seats "were
fully occupied by an array of beauty such as no other portion of
the State ever witnessed."
On September nth, Eberhard & Koll opened the Lafayette
Hotel on Main Street, on the site opposite the Bella Union
where once had stood the residence of Don Eulogio de Cells.
Particialar inducements to families desiring quiet and the
attraction of a table "supplied with the choicest viands and
delicacies of the season" were duly advertised; but the pro-
prietors met with only a moderate response. On January 1st,
1862, Eberhard withdrew and Frederick W. Koll took into
partnership Henry Dockweiler — father of two of our very promi-
nent young men, J. H. Dockweiler, the civil engineer and, in
1889, City Surveyor, and Isidore B. Dockweiler, the attorney
— and Chris Fluhr. In two years, Dockweiler had withdrawn,
leaving Fluhr as sole proprietor ; and he continued as such until,
in the seventies, he took Charles Gerson into partnership with
252 Sixty Years in Southern California [1859
him. It is my recollection, in fact, that Fluhr was associated
with this hotel in one capacity or another until its name was
changed, first to the Cosmopolitan and then to the St. Elmo.
Various influences contributed to causing radical social
changes, particularly throughout the county. When Dr. John
S. Griffin and other pioneers came here, they were astonished at
the hospitality of the ranch-owners, who provided for them, how-
ever numerous, shelter, food and even fresh saddle-horses ; and
this bounteous provision for the wayfarer continued until the
migrating population had so increased as to become something
of a burden and economic conditions put a brake on unlimited
entertainment. Then a slight reaction set in, and by the
sixties a movement to demand some compensation for such
service began to make itself felt. In 1859, Don Vicente de la
Osa advertised that he would afford accommodation for travel-
ers by way of his ranch. El Encino; but that to protect himself,
he must consider it "an essential part of the arrangement that
visitors should act on the good old rule and — pay as one goes!"
In 1859, C. H. Classen, a native of Germany, opened a cigar
factory in the Signoret Building on Main Street, north of
Arcadia; and believing that tobacco could be successfully
grown in Los Angeles County, he sent to Cuba for some seed
and was soon making cigars from the local product. I fancy
that the plants degenerated because, although others experi-
mented with Los Angeles tobacco, the growing of the leaf here
was abandoned after a few years. H. Newmark & Company
handled much tobacco for sheep-wash, and so came to buy the
last Southern California crop. When I speak of sheep-wash,
I refer to a solution made by steeping tobacco in water and
used to cure a skin disease known as scab. It was always
applied after shearing, for then the wool could not be affected
and the process was easier.
Talking of tobacco, I may say that the commercial cigarette
now for sale everywhere was not then to be seen. People
rolled their own cigarettes, generally using brown paper, but
sometimes the white, which came in reams of sheets about six
by ten inches in size. Kentucky leaf was most in vogue ; and
i8s9] Admission to Citizenship 253
the first brand of granulated tobacco that I remember was
known as Sultana. Clay pipes, then packed in barrels, were
used a good deal more than now, and brier pipes much less.
There was no duty on imported cigars, and their consequent
cheapness brought them into general consumption. Practi-
cally all of the native female population smoked cigarettes,
for it was a custom of the country ; but the American ladies
did not indulge. While spending an enjoyable hour at the
County Museum recently, I noticed a cigarette-case of finely-
woven matting that once belonged to Antonio Maria Lugo,
and a bundle of cigarettes, rolled up, like so many matches, by
Andres Pico ; and both the little cigarillos and the holder will
give a fair understanding of these customs of the past.
Besides the use of tobacco in cigar and cigarette form, and
for pipes, there was much consumption of the weed by chewers.
Peachbrand, a black plug saturated with molasses and packed
in caddies — a term more commonly applied to little boxes for
tea — was the favorite chewing tobacco fifty years or more ago.
It would hardly be an exaggeration to say that nine out of ten
Americans in Los Angeles indulged in this habit, some of whom
certainly exposed us to the criticism of Charles Dickens and
others, who found so much fault with our manners.
The pernicious activity of rough or troublesome characters
brings to recollection an aged Indian named Polonia, whom
pioneers will easily recollect as having been bereft of his sight,
by his own people, because of his unnatural ferocity. He was
six feet four inches in height, and had once been endowed with
great physical strength; he was clad, for the most part, in a
tattered blanket, so that his mere appearance was sufficient to
impress, if not to intimidate, the observer. Only recently, in
fact, Mrs. Solomon Lazard told me that to her and her girl
playmates Polonia and his fierce countenance were the terror
of their lives. He may thus have deserved to forfeit his life for
many crimes ; but the idea of cutting a man's eyes out for any of-
fense whatever, no matter how great, is revolting in the extreme.
The year I arrived, and for some time thereafter, Polonia
slept by night in the corridor of Don Manuel Requena's house.
254 Sixty Years in Southern California I^ssp
With the aid of only a very long stick, this blind Indian was
able to find his way all over the town.
Sometime in 1859, Daniel Sexton, a veteran of the battles of
San Bartolo and the Mesa, became possessed of the idea that
gold was secreted in large sacks near the ruins of San Juan
Capistrano ; and getting permission, he burrowed so far beneath
the house of a citizen that the latter, fearing his whole home
was likely to cave in, frantically begged the gold-digger to
desist. Sexton, in fact, came near digging his own grave
instead of another's, and was for a while the good-natured
butt of many a pun.
Jacob A. Moerenhout, a native of Antwerp, Belgium, who
had been French Consul for a couple of years at Monterey, in
the latter days of the Mexican regime, removed to Los Angeles
on October 29th, 1859, on which occasion the Consular flag of
France was raised at his residence in this city. As early as
January 13th, 1835, President Andrew Jackson had appointed
Moerenhout "U. S. Consul to Otaheite and the Rest of the
Society Islands," the original Consular document, with its
quaint spelling and signed by the vigorous pen of that Presi-
dent, existing to-day in a collection owned by Dr. E. M. Clinton
of Los Angeles ; and the Belgian had thus so profited by experi-
ence in promoting trade and amicable relations between foreign
nations that he was prepared to make himself persona grata
here. Salvos of cannon were fired, while the French citizens,
accompanied by a band, formed in procession and marched
to the Plaza. In the afternoon, Don Louis Sainsevain in
honor of the event set a groaning and luxurious table for a
goodly company at his hospitable residence. There patriotic
toasts were gracefully proposed and as gracefully responded to.
The festivities continued until the small hours of the morning,
after which Consul Moerenhout was declared a duly-initiated
Angeleiio.
Surrounded by most of his family, Don Juan Bandini, a dis-
tinguished Southern Calif ornian and a worthy member of one of
the finest Spanish families here, after a long and painful illness,
died at the home of his daughter and son-in-law. Dona Arcadia
San Pedro Street, near Second, in the Early Seventies
Commercial Street, Looking East from Main, about 1870
View of Plaza, Showing the Reservoir
Old Lanfranco Block
1859] Admission to Citizenship 255
and Don Abel Stearns, in Los Angeles, on November 4th, 1859.
Don Juan had come to California far back in the early twenties,
and to Los Angeles so soon thereafter that he was a familiar
and welcome figure here many years before I arrived.
It is natural that I should look back with pleasure and
satisfaction to my association with a gentleman so typically
Californian, warm-hearted, genial and social in the extreme;
and one who dispensed so large and generous a hospitality.
He came with his father — who eventually died here and was
buried at the old San Gabriel Mission — and at one time pos-
sessed the Jurupa rancho, where he lived. Don Juan was a
lawyer by profession, and had written the best part of a
history of early California, the manuscript of which went to
the State University. The passing glimpse of Bandini, in
sunlight and in shadow, recorded by Dana in his classic Two
Years before the Mast, adds to the fame already enjoyed by
this native Californian.
Himself of a good-sized family, Don Juan married twice.
His first wife, courted in 1823, was Dolores, daughter of Captain
Jose Estudillo, a comandante at Monterey; and of that luiion
were born Dona Arcadia, first the wife of Abel Stearns and later of
Colonel R. S. Baker; Doiia Ysidora, who married Lieutenant
Cave J. Coutts, a cousin of General Grant; Dona Josefa, later
the wife of Pedro C. Carrillo (father of J. J. Carrillo, formerly
Marshal here and now Justice of the Peace at Santa
Monica), and the sons, Jose Maria Bandini and Juanito Ban-
dini. Don Juan's second wife was Refugio, a daughter of
Santiago Arguello and a granddaughter of the governor
who made the first grants of land to rancheros of Los An-
geles. She it was who nursed the wounded Kearny and
who became a friend of Lieutenant William T. Sherman, once
a guest at her home; and she was also the mother of Doiia
Dolores, later the wife of Charles R. Johnson, and of Dona
Margarita whom Dr. James B. Winston married after his
rollicking bachelor days. By Bandini's second marriage
there were three sons : Juan de la Cruz Bandini, Alfredo Bandini
and Arturo Bandini.
256 Sixty Years in Southern California [1859
The financial depression of 1859 affected the temperament of
citizens so much that Httle or no attention was paid to hoH-
days, with the one exception, perhaps, of the Bella Union's
poorly -patronized Christmas dinner; and during i860 many
small concerns closed their doors altogether.
I have spoken of the fact that brick was not much used
when I first came to Los Angeles, and have shown how it
soon after became more popular as a building material. This
was emphasized during 1859, when thirty-one brick buildings,
such as they were, were put up.
In December, Benjamin Hayes, then District Judge and
holding court in the dingy old adobe at the corner of Spring and
Franklin streets, ordered the Sheriff to secure and furnish
another place ; and despite the fact that there was only a depleted
treasury to meet the new outlay of five or six thousand dollars,
few persons attempted to deny the necessity. The fact of the
matter was that, when it rained, water actually poured through
the ceiling and ran down the court-room walls, spattering over
the Judge's desk to such an extent that umbrellas might very
conveniently have been brought into use ; all of which led to the
limit of human patience if not of human endurance.
In 1859, one of the first efforts toward the formation of a
Public Library was made when Felix Bachman, Myer J.
Newmark, William H. Workman, Sam Foy, H. S. Allanson and
others organized a Library Association, with John Temple as
President; J. J. Warner, Vice-President; Francis Melius,
Treasurer; and Israel Fleishman, Secretary. The Association
established a reading-room in Don Abel Stearns's Arcadia Block.
An immediate and important acquisition was the collection of
books that had been assembled by Henry Melius for his own
home; other citizens contributed books, periodicals and money;
and the messengers of the Overland Mail undertook to get
such Eastern newspapers as they could for the persual of the
library members. Five dollars was charged as an initiation
fee, and a dollar for monthly dues ; but insignificant as .was the
expense, the undertaking was not well patronized by the public,
and the project, to the regret of many, had to be abandoned.
iSso] Admission to Citizenship 257
This effort to establish a Hbrary recalls an Angeleno of the
fifties, Ralph Emerson, a cousin, I believe, though somewhat
distantly removed, of the famous Concord philosopher. He
lived on the west side of Alameda Street, in an adobe known
as Emerson's Row, between First and Aliso streets, where Miss
Mary E. Hoyt, assisted by her mother, had a school; and
where at one time Emerson, a strong competitor of mine in the
hide business, had his office. Fire destroyed part of their
home late in 1859, and again in the following September.
Emerson served as a director on the Library Board, both he
and his wife being among the most refined and attractive
people of the neighborhood.
It must have been late in November that Miss Hoyt
announced the opening of her school at No. 2 Emerson Row,
in doing which she followed a custom in vogue with private
schools at that time and published the endorsements of
leading citizens, or patrons.
Again in 1861, Miss Hoyt advertised to give "instruction
in the higher branches of English education, with French,
drawing, and ornamental needlework, " for five dollars a month;
while three dollars was asked for the teaching of the common
branches and needlework, and only two dollars for teaching the
elementary courses. Miss Hoyt's move was probably due to
the inability of the Board of Education to secure an appropri-
ation with which to pay the public school teachers. This
lack of means led not only to a general discussion of the prob-
lem, but to the recommendation that Los Angeles schools
be graded and a high school started.
Following a dry year, and especially a fearful heat wave in
October which suddenly ran the mercury up to one hundred
and ten degrees, December witnessed heavy rains in the moun-
tains inundating both valleys and towns. On the fourth
of December the most disastrous rain known in the history
of the Southland set in, precipitating, within a single day
and night, twelve inches of water; and causing the rise
of the San Gabriel and other rivers to a height never be-
fore recorded and such a cataclysm that sand and debris
258 Sixty Years in Southern California [1859
were scattered far and wide. Lean and weakened from
the ravaging drought through which they had just passed,
the poor cattle, now exposed to the elements of cold rain
and wind, fell in vast numbers in their tracks. The bed of
the Los Angeles River was shifted for, perhaps, a quarter of a
mile. Many houses in town were cracked and otherwise
damaged, and some caved in altogether. The front of the old
Church, attacked through a leaking roof, disintegrated, swayed
and finally gave way, filling the neighboring street with
impassable heaps.
I have spoken of the Market House built by John Temple
for the City. On December 29th, there was a sale of the
stalls by Mayor D. Marchessault ; and all except six booths
were disposed of, each for the term of three months. One
hundred and seventy-three dollars was the rental agreed
upon ; and Dodson & Company bid successfully for nine out of
thirteen of the stalls. By the following month, however,
complaints were made in the press that, though the City Fathers
had "condescended to let the suffering public" have another
market, they still prevented the free competition desired;
and by the end of August, it was openly charged that the
manner in which the City Market was conducted showed "a
gross piece of favoritism," and that the City Treasury on this
account would suffer a monthly loss of one hundred dollars in
rents alone.
About 1859, John Murat, following in the wake of Henry
Kuhn, proprietor of the New York Brewery, established the
Gambrinus in the block bounded by Los Angeles, San Pedro
and First and what has become Second streets. The brewery,
notwithstanding its spacious yard, was anything but an
extensive institution, and the quality of the product dispensed
to the public left much to be desired; but it was beer, and
Murat has the distinction of having been one of the first
Los Angeles brewers. The New York's spigot, a suggestive
souvenir of those convivial days picked up by George W.
Hazard, now enriches a local museum.
These reminiscences recall still another brewer — Christian
i859] Admission to Citizenship 259
Henne — at whose popular resort on Main Street, on the last
evening of 1859, following some conferences in the old Round
House, thirty-eight Los Angeles Germans met and formed an
association which they called the Teutonia-Concordia. The
object was to promote social intercourse, especially among
Germans, and to further the study of German song. C. H.
Classen was chosen first President ; H. Hammel, Vice-President ;
H. Heinsch, Secretary ; and Lorenzo Leek, Treasurer.
How great were the problems confronting the national
government in the development of our continent may be
gathered from the strenuous efforts- — and their results — to
encourage an overland mail route. Six himdred thousand
dollars a year was the subsidy granted the Butterfield Com-
pany for running two mail coaches each way a week; yet the
postal revenue for the first year was but twenty-seven thou-
sand dollars, leaving a deficit of more than half a million! But
this was not all that was discouraging : politicians attacked the
stage route administration, and then the newspapers had to
come to the rescue and point out the advantages as compared
with the ocean routes. Indians, also, were an obstacle; and
with the arrival of every stage, one expected to hear the sen-
sational story of ambushing and murder rather than the yam
of a monotonous trip. When new reports of such outrages were
brought in, new outcries were raised and new petitions, calling
on the Government for protection, were hiurriedly circulated.
CHAPTER XVIII
FIRST EXPERIENCE WITH THE TELEGRAPH
i860
IN i860, Maurice Kremer was elected County Treasurer,
succeeding H. N. Alexander who had entered the service
of Wells Fargo & Company ; and he attended to this new
function at his store on Commercial Street, where he kept the
County funds. I had my office in the same place ; and the
salary of the Treasurer at the time being but one hundred and
twenty-five dollars a month, with no allowance for an assistant,
I agreed to act as Deputy Treasurer without pay. As a
matter of fact, I was a sort of Emergency Deputy only, and
accepted the responsibility as an accommodation to Kremer,
in order that when he was out of town there might be some-
one to take charge of his affairs. It is very evident, however,
that I did not appreciate the danger connected with this little
courtesy, since it often happened that there were from forty
to fifty thousand dollars in the money-chest. An expert
burglar could have opened the safe without special effort, and
might have gone scot-free, for the only protector at night was
my nephew, Kaspare Cohn, a mere youth, who clerked for me
and slept on the premises.
Inasmuch as no bank had as yet been established in Los
Angeles, Kremer carried the money to Sacramento twice a year ;
nor was this transportation of the funds, first by steamer to
San Francisco, thence by boat inland, without danger. The
State was full of desperate characters who would cut a throat
or scuttle a ship for a great deal less than the amount involved.
260
i860] First Experience with the Telegraph 261
At the end of five or six years, Kremer was succeeded as County
Treasurer by J. Huber, Jr. I may add, incidentally, that the
funds in question could have been transported north by Wells
Fargo & Company, but their charges were exorbitant. At a
later period, when they were better equipped and rates had
been reduced, they carried the State money.
On January 2d, Joseph Paulding, a Marylander, died.
Twenty -seven years before, he came by way of the Gila, and
boasted having made the first two mahogany billiard tables
constructed in California.
The same month, attention was directed to a new industry,
the polishing and mounting of abalone shells, then as now found
on the coast of Southern California. A year or so later, G.
Fischer was displaying a shell brooch, colored much like an
opal and mounted in gold. By 1866, the demand for abalone
shells had so increased that over fourteen thousand dollars'
worth was exported from San Francisco, while a year later
consignments valued at not less than thirty-six thousand dol-
lars were sent out through the Golden Gate. Even though
the taste of to-day considers this shell as hardly deserving
of such a costly setting, it is nevertheless true that these early
ornaments, much handsomer than many specimens of quartz
jewelry, soon became quite a fad in Los Angeles. Natives and
Indians, especially, took a fancy to the abalone shell, and
even much later earrings of that material were worn by the
Crow scout Curley, a survivor of the Custer Massacre. In
1874, R. W. Jackson, a shell-jeweler on Montgomery Street,
San Francisco, was advertising here for the rarities, offering as
much as forty and fifty dollars for a single sound red, black or
silver shell, and from fifty to one hundred dollars for a good
green or blue one. Incidentally, it is interesting to note that
the Chinese consumed the abalone meat in large quantities.
Broom-making was a promising industry in the early six-
ties, the Carpenters of Los Nietos and F. W. Gibson of El
Monte being among the pioneers in this handiwork. Several
thousand brooms were made in that year; and since they
brought three dollars a dozen, and cost but eleven cents each
262 Sixty Years in Southern California [is^o
for the handles and labor, exclusive of the com, a good profit
was realized.
Major Edward Harold Fitzgerald, well known for campaigns
against both Indians and bandits, died on January 9th and
was buried with military honors.
On January loth, Bartholomew's Rocky Mountain Circus
held forth on the Plaza, people coming in from miles around to
see the show. It was then that the circus proprietor sought
to quiet the nerves of the anxious by the large-lettered an-
nouncement, "A strict Police is engaged for the occasion!"
The printing of news, editorials and advertisements in both
English and Spanish recalls again not only some amusing
incidents in court activities resulting from the inability of
jurists and others to understand the two languages, but also the
fact that in the early sixties sermons were preached in the
Catholic Church at Los Angeles in English and Spanish, the for-
mer being spoken at one mass, the latter at another. English
proper names such as John and Benjamin were Spanished
into Juan and Benito, and common Spanish terms persisted in
English advertisements, as when Don Juan Avila and Fer-
nando Sepiilveda, in January, announced that they would run
the horse Coyote one thousand varas, for three thousand dollars.
In 1862, also, when Syriaco Arza was executed for the murder
of Frank Riley, the peddler, and the prisoner had made a speech
to the crowd, the Sheriff read the warrant for the execution in
both English and Spanish. Still another illustration of the use
of Spanish here, side by side with English, is found in the fact
that in 1858 the Los Angeles assessment rolls were written in
Spanish, although by i860 the entries were made in English
only.
A letter to the editor of the Star, published on January 28th,
i860, will confirm my comments on the primitive school condi-
tions in Los Angeles in the first decade or two after I came. The
writer complained of the filthy condition of the Boys' Depart-
ment, School No. I, in which, to judge by the mud, " the floor
did not seem to have been swept for months ! " The editor then
took up the cudgel, saying that the Board formerly paid a man
i860] First Experience with the Telegraph 263
for keeping the schoolroom clean, but that the Common Council
had refused any longer to pass the janitor's bills ; adding that,
in his opinion, the Council had acted wisely! If the teacher
had really wished the schoolroom floor to be clean, contended
the economical editor, he should have appointed a pupil to swing
a broom each day or, at least, each week, and otherwise perform
the necessary duties on behalf of the health of the school.
The year i860 witnessed the death of Don Antonio Maria
Lugo — brother of Don Jose Ygnacio Lugo, grandfather of the
Wolf skills — uncle of General Vallejo and the father-in-law of
Colonel Isaac Williams, who preceded Lugo to the grave by four
years. For a long time, Lugo lived in a spacious adobe built
in 1 8 19 near the present corner of East Second and San Pedro
streets, and there the sons, for whom he obtained the San
Bernardino rancho, were born. In earlier days, or from 1813,
Don Antonio lived on the San Antonio Ranch near what is
now Compton; and so well did he prosper there that eleven
leagues were not enough for the support of his cattle and flocks.
It was a daughter of Lugo who, having married a Perez and
being made a widow, became the wife of Stephen C. Foster, her
daughter in turn marrying Wallace Woodworth and becoming
Maria Antonia Perez de Woodworth; and Lugo, who used to
visit them and the business establishments of the town, was
a familiar figure as a sturdy cahallero in the streets of Los
Angeles, his ornamental sword strapped in Spanish-soldier
fashion to his equally-ornamental saddle. Don Antonio died
about the first of February, aged eighty-seven years.
About the middle of February, John Temple fitted up the
large hall over the City Market as a theater, providing for it a
stage some forty-five by twenty feet in size — in those days
considered an abundance of platform space — and a "private
box" on each side, whose possession became at once the ambi-
tion of every Los Angeles gaUant. Temple brought an artist
from San Francisco to paint the scenery, Los Angeles then
boasting of no one clever enough for the work; and the same
genius surpervised the general decoration of the house. What
was considered a record-breaking effort at making the public
264 Sixty Years in Southern California U860
comfortable was undertaken in furnishing the parquet with
armchairs and in filling the gallery with two tiers of raised
benches, guaranteeing some chance of looking over any broad
sombreros in front ; and to cap the enterprise, Temple brought
down a company of players especially to dedicate his new house.
About February 20th, the actors arrived on the old Senator; and
while I do not recall who they were or what they produced, I
believe that they first held forth on Washington's Birthday
when it was said: "The scenery is magnificent, surpassing
anything before exhibited in this city.
The spring of i860 was notable for the introduction of the
Pony Express as a potent factor in the despatch of trans-
continental mail ; and although this new service never included
Los Angeles as one of its terminals, it greatly shortened the
time required and, naturally if indirectly, benefited the
Southland. Speed was, indeed, an ambition of the new man-
agement, and some rather extraordinary results were attained.
About April 20th, soon after the Pony Express was started, mes-
sages were rushed through from St. Louis to San Francisco in
eight and a half days ; and it was noised about that the Butter-
fields planned a rival pony express, over a route three hundred
miles shorter, that would reach the Coast in seven days. About
the end of April, mail from London and Liverpool reached Los
Angeles in twenty or twenty-one days; and I believe that the
fastest time that the Pony Express ever made was in March,
1861, when President Lincoln's message was brought here in
seven days and seventeen hours. This was somewhat quicker
than the passage of the report about Fort Sumter, a month
afterward, which required twelve days, and considerably faster
than the transmission, by the earlier methods of 1850, of the
intelligence that California had been admitted to the Union — a
bit of news of the greatest possible importance yet not at all
known here, I have been told, until six weeks after Congress
enacted the law ! Which reminds me that the death of Eliza-
beth Barrett Browning, the poet, although occurring in Italy
on June 29th, 1861, was first announced in Los Angeles on the
seventeenth of the following August!
i860] First Experience with the Telegraph 265
In February or March, the sewer crossing Los Angeles
Street and connecting the Bella Union with the zanja (which
passed through the premises of Francis Melius) burst, probably
as the result of the recent rains, discharging its contents into
the common yard; and in short order Melius found himself
minus two very desirable tenants. For a while, he thought of
suing the City ; and then he decided to stop the sewer efEectu-
ally. As soon as it was plugged up, however, the Bella
Union found itself cut off from its accustomed outlet, and there
was soon a great uproar in that busy hostelry. The upshot of
the matter was that the Bella Union proprietors commenced
suit against Melius. This was the first sewer — really a small,
square wooden pipe — whose construction inaugurated an early
chapter in the annals of sewer-building and control in Los
Angeles.
Competition for Government trade was keen in the sixties,
and energetic efforts were made by merchants to secure their
share of the crumbs, as well as the loaves, that might fall from
Uncle Sam's table. For that reason. Captain Winfield Scott
Hancock easily added to his popularity as Quartermaster, early
in i860, by preparing a map in order to show the War Depart-
ment the relative positions of the various military posts in this
district, and to emphasize the proximity of Los Angeles.
One day in the Spring a stranger called upon me with the
interesting information that he was an inventor, which led me
to observe that someone ought to devise a contrivance with
which to pluck oranges — an operation then performed by
climbing into the trees and pulling the fruit from the branches.
Shortly after the interview, many of us went to the grove of
Jean Louis Sainsevain to see a simple, but ingenious appliance
for picking the golden fruit. A pair of pincers oh a light pole
were operated from below by a wire; and when the wire was
pulled, the fruit, quite unharmed by scratch or pressure, fell
safely into a little basket fastened close to the pincers. In the
same year, Pierre Sainsevain established the first California
wine house in New York and bought the Cucamonga vine-
yard, where he introduced new and better varieties of grapes.
266 Sixty Years in Southern California [i860
But bad luck overtook him. In 1870, grasshoppers ate the
leaves and destroyed the crop.
Small as was the population of Los Angeles County at about
this time, there was nevertheless for a while an exodus to
Texas, due chiefly to the difficulty experienced by white
immigrants in competing with Indian ranch and vineyard
laborers.
Toward the middle of March, much interest was manifested
in the welfare of a native Californian named Serbo^sometimes
erroneously given as Serbulo and even Cervelo — Varela who,
under the influence of bad whiskey, had assaulted and nearly
killed a companion, and who seemed certain of a long term in
the State prison. It was recalled, however, that when in the
fall of 1846, the fiendish Flores, resisting the invasion of the
United States ' forces, had captured a number of Americans
and condemned them to be dragged out and shot, Varela, then
a soldier under Flores, and a very brave fellow, broke from the
ranks, denounced the act as murder, declared that the order
should never be carried out except over his dead body, and said
and did such a number of things more or less melodramatic that
he finally saved the lives of the American prisoners. Great
sympathy was expressed, therefore, when it was discovered
that this half-forgotten hero was in the toils ; and few persons,
if any, were sorry when Varela was induced to plead guilty to
assault and battery, enabling the court to deal leniently with
him. Varela became more and more addicted to strong drink ;
and some years later he was the victim of foul play, his body
being found in an unfrequented part of the town.
A scrap-book souvenir of the sixties gives us an idyllic view
of contemporaneous pueblo life, furnishing, at the same time,
an idea of the newspaper English of that day. It reads as
follows :
With the exception of a little legitimate shooting affair last
Saturday night, by which some fellow had well-nigh the top
of his head knocked off, and one or two knock-downs and drag-
outs, we have had a very peaceful week indeed. Nothing has
occurred to disturb the even tenor of our way, and our good
i860] First Experience with the Telegraph 267
people seem to be given up to the quiet enjoyment of delicious
fruits and our unequalled climate, — each one literally under his
own vine and fig tree, revelling in fancy's flights, or luxuriating
among the good things which he finds temptingly at hand.
The demand for better lighting facilities led the Common
Council to make a contract, toward the end of March, with
Tiffany & Wethered, who were given a franchise to lay pipes
through the streets and to establish gas-works here; but the
attempt proved abortive.
In this same year, the trip east by the Overland Stage
Route, which had formerly required nearly a month, was
accomplished in eighteen or nineteen days ; and toward the end
of March, the Overland Company replaced the "mud-wagons"
they had been using between Los Angeles and San Francisco
with brightly-painted and better-upholstered Concord coaches.
Then the Los Angeles office was on Spring Street, between First
and second — on the lot later bought by Louis Rceder for a
wagon-shop, and now the site of the Roeder Block ; and there,
for the price of two hundred dollars, tickets could be obtained
for the entire journey to St. Louis.
Foreign coin circulated in Los Angeles, as I have said, for
many years, and even up to the early sixties Mexican money
was accepted at par with our own. Improved facilities for
intercourse with the outside world, however, affected the mar-
kets here, and in the spring of that year several merchants
refused to receive the specie of our southern neighbor at more
than its actual value as silver. As a result, these dealers, though
perhaps but following the trend elsewhere, were charged openly
with a combination to obtain an illegitimate profit.
In i860, while Dr. T. J. White was Postmaster, a regulation
was made ordering all mail not called for to be sent to the
Dead Letter Office in Washington, within a week after such
mail had been advertised; but it was not until the fall of 1871
that this order was really put into operation in our neighbor-
hood. For some time this worked great hardship on many
people living in the suburbs who found it impossible to call
268 Sixty Years in Southern California useo
promptly for their mail, and who learned too late that letters in-
tended for them had been returned to the sender or destroyed.
Political enthusiasm was keen in early days, as is usual in
small towns, and victorious candidates, at least, knew how to
celebrate. On Monday, May 7th, i860, Henry Melius was
elected Mayor; and next day, he and the other City officers
paraded our streets in a four-horse stagecoach with a brass
band. The Mayor-elect and his confreres were stuffed inside
the hot, decorated vehicle, while the puffing musicians bounced
up and down on the swaying top outside, like pop-corn in a
frying-pan.
More than a ripple of excitement was produced in Los
Angeles about the middle of May, when Jack Martin, Billy
Holcomb and Jim Ware, in from Bear Valley, ordered provi-
sions and paid for the same in shining gold dust. It was pre-
viously known that they had gone out to hunt for bear, and
their sudden return with this precious metal, together with
their desire to pick up a few appliances such as are not ordi-
narily used in trapping, made some of the hangers-on about the
store suspicious. The hunters were secretly followed, and were
found to return to what is now Holcomb Valley; and then it
was learned that gold had been discovered there about the first
of the month. For a year or two, many mining camps were
formed in. Holcomb and Upper Holcomb valleys, and in that
district the town of Belleville was founded ; but the gold, at first
apparently so plentiful, soon gave out, and the excitement
incidental to the discovery subsided.
While some men were thus digging for treasure, others
sought fortune in the deep. Spearing sharks, as well as whales,
was an exciting industry at this period ; sharks running in large
numbers along the coast, and in the waters of San Pedro Bay.
In May, Orin Smith of Los Angeles, with the aid of his son,
in one day caught one hundred and three sharks, from which
he took only the livers ; these, when boiled, yielding oil which,
burned fairly well, even in its crude state. During the next
year, shark-hunting near Rattlesnake Island continued mod-
erately remunerative.
i86oi First Experience with the Telegraph 269
Sometime in the spring, another effort was made to establish
a tannery here and hopes were entertained that an important
trade might thus be founded. But the experiment came to
naught, and even to-day Los Angeles can boast of no tannery
such as exists in several other California cities.
With the approach of summer, Elijah and William H.
Workman buUt a brick dwelling on Main Street, next to Tom
Rowan's bakery, and set around it trees of several varieties.
The residence, then one of the prettiest in town, was built for
the boys' mother ; and there, with her, they dwelt.
That sectarian activity regarding public schools is nothing
new ift Los Angeles may be shown from an incident, not without
its humorous side, of the year i860. T. J. Harvey appeared
with a broadside in the press, protesting against the reading of
the Bible in schoolrooms, and saying that he, for one, woiold
"never stand it, come what may." Some may still remember
his invective and his pyrotechnical conclusion: "Revolution!
War!! Blood!! I"
Diu-ing Downey's incumbency as Governor, the Legislature
passed a law, popularly known as the Bulkhead Bill, authorizing
the San Francisco Dock and Wharf Company to build a stone
bulkhead around the water-front of the Northern city, in return
for which the company was to have the exclusive privilege of
collecting tolls and wharfage for the long period of fifty years,
a franchise the stupendous value of which even the projectors
of that date could scarcely have anticipated. Downey, when
the measure came before him for final action, vetoed the bill
and thus performed a judicious act — perhaps the most
meritorious of his administration.
Whether Downey, who on January 9th had become Govern-
or, was really popular for any length of time, even in the vicinity
of his home, may be a question; but his high office and the
fact that he was the first Governor from the Southland as-
sured him a hearty welcome whenever he came down here from
the capital. In June Downey returned to Los Angeles, accom-
panied by his wife, and took rooms at the Bella Union hotel, and
besides the usual committee visits, receptions and speeches from
270 Sixty Years in Southern California [i860
the balcony, arranged in honor of the distinguished guests,
there was a salute of thirteen guns, fired with all ceremony,
which echoed and re-echoed from the hillsides.
In i860, a number of delegates, including Casper Behrendt
and myself, were sent to San Francisco to attend the laying of
the corner-stone, on the twenty-fifth of June, of the Masonic
Temple at the corner of Post and Montgomery streets. We
made the trip when the weather was not only excessively hot,
but the sand was a foot deep and headway very slow; so
that, although we were young men and enjoyed the excursion,
we could not laugh down all of the disagreeable features of the
journey. It was no wonder, therefore, that when we arrived at
Visalia, where we were to change horses, Behrendt wanted a
shave. While he was in the midst of this tonsorial refreshment,
the stage started on its way to San Francisco ; and as Behrendt
heard it passing the shop, he ran out — with one side of his face
smooth and clean, while the other side was whiskered and
grimy — and tried to stop the disappearing vehicle. Despite all
of his yelling and running, however, the stage did not stop;
and finally, Behrendt fired his pistol several times into the air.
This attracted the attention of the sleepy driver, who took the
puffing passenger on board; whereupon the rest of us chaffed
him about his singular appearance. Behrendt' did not have
much peace of mind until we reached the Plaza Hotel at San
Juan Bautista ("a relic," as someone has said," of the distant
past, where men and women played billiards on horseback,
and trees bore human fruit"), situated in a sweet little val-
ley, mountain-girdled and well watered ; where he was able to
complete his shave and thus restore his countenance to its
normal condition.
In connection with this anecdote of the trip to San Fran-
cisco, I may add another story. On board the stage was
Frederick J. McCrellish, editor of the AUa California — the
principal Coast paper, bought by McCrellish & Company in
1858 — and also Secretary of the telegraph company at that
time building its line between San Francisco and Los Angeles.
' Died November 19th, 1913.
i860] First Experience with the Telegraph 271
When we reached a point between Gilroy and Visalia, which was
the temporary terminus of the telegraph from San Francisco,
McCrelUsh spoke with some enthusiasm of the Morse invention
and invited everybody on the stage to send telegrams, at his
expense, to his friends. I wrote out a message to my brother in
San Francisco, telling him about the trip as far as I had com-
pleted it, and passed the copy to the operator at the clicking
instrument. It may be hard for the reader to conceive that
this would be an exciting episode in a man's life; but since my
first arrival in the Southland there had been no telegraphic
communication between Los Angeles and the outside world,
and the remembrance of this experience at the little wayside
station was never to be blotted from my mind. I may also
add that of that committee sent to the Masonic festivities in
San Francisco, Behrendt and I are now the only surviving
members.
It has been stated that the population of Los Angeles in
1850 was but sixteen hundred and ten. How true that is I
cannot tell. When I came to the city in 1853, there were some
twenty-six hundred people. In the summer of i860 a fairly
accurate census was made, and it was found that our little
town had four thousand three hundred and ninety-nine
inhabitants.
Two distinguished military men visited Los Angeles in the
midsummer of i860. The first was General James Shields
who, in search of health, arrived by the Overland Route on the
twenty-fourth of July, having just finished his term in the
Senate. The effect of wounds received at the battle of Cerro
Gordo, years before, and reports as to the climate of California
started the General westward ; and quietly he alighted from the
stage at the door of the Bella Union. After a while. General
Shields undertook the superintending of a Mexican mine ; but at
the outbreak of the Civil War, although not entirely recovered,
he hastened back to Washington and was at once appointed a
Brigadier-General of volunteers. The rest of his career is
known.
A week later. General, or as he was then entitled. Colonel
272 Sixty Years in Southern California [i860
John C. Fremont drew up at the Plaza. His coming to this
locality in connection with the Temescal tin mine and Mariposa
forestry interests had been heralded from Godey's ranch some
days before; and when he arrived on Tuesday, July 31st, in
company with Leonidas Haskell and Joseph C. Palmer, the
Republicans were out in full force and fired a salute of twenty-
five guns. In the evening, Colonel Fremont was waited upon
in the parlors of the Bella Union by a goodly company, under
the leadership of the Republican Committee, although all
classes, irrespective of politics, united to pay the celebrated
California pioneer the honors due him.
Alexander Godey, to whose rancho I have just referred, was a
man of importance, with a very extensive cattle-range in Kern
County not far from Bakersfield, where he later lived. He
occasionally came to town, and was an invariable visitor at
my store, purchasing many supplies from me. These and
other provisions, which Godey and his neighbors sent for, were
transported by burro- or mule-train to the ranches in care
of Miguel Ortiz, who had his headquarters in Los Angeles.
Loading these so-called pack-trains was an art : by means of
ropes and slats of wood, merchandise was strapped to the
animal's sides and back in such a fashion that it could not slip,
and thus a heavy, well-balanced load was conveyed over the
plain and the mountain trails.
By i860, the Germans were well-organized and active here
in many ways, a German Benevolent Society, called the Ein-
tracht, which met Tuesday and Friday evenings in the Arcadia
Block for music drill under Director Heinsch, affording stimu-
lating entertainment and accomplishing much good. The
Turnverein, on the other hand, took an interest in the success of
the Round House, and on March 12th put up a liberty pole on
top of the oddly-shaped building. Lager beer and other things
deemed by the Teutonic brethren essential to a Garden of
Paradise and to such an occasion were freely dispensed; and
on that day Lehman was in all his glory.
A particular feature of this Garden of Paradise was a cab-
bage, about which have grown up some traditions of the Brob-
i860] First Experience with the Telegraph 273
dingnagian sort that the reader may accept in toto or with
a grain of salt. It was planted when the place was opened,
and is said to have attained, by December, 1859, a height
of twelve feet, "with a circumference" (so averred an ambigu-
ous chronicler of the period, referring doubtless to crinolines)
"equal to that of any fashionably-attired city belle measuring
eight or ten feet." By July, i860, the cabbage attained a
growth, so the story goes, of fourteen feet four inches although,
George always claimed, it had been cropped twenty or more
times and its leaves used for Kohlslau, Sauerkraut and good-
ness knows what. I can afford the modern reader no better
idea of Lehman's personality and resort than by quoting the
following contemporaneous, if not verj"- scholarly, account :
The Garden of Paradise. Our friend George of the
Round House, who there keeps a garden with the above capti-
vating name, was one of the few who done honor to the Fourth.
He kept the National Ensign at the fore, showed his fifteen-
foot cabbage, and dealt Lager to admiring crowds all day.
Among the popular pleasure-resorts of i860 was the
Tivoli Garden on the Wolfskill Road, conducted by Charles
Kaiser, who called his friends together by placarding the legend,
"Hurrah for the Tivoli!" Music and other amusements were
provided every Sunday, from two o'clock, and dancing could be
enjoyed until late in the night; and as there was no charge for
admission, the place was well patronized.
When the Foiu-th of July, 1859, approached and no prepa-
ration had been made to observe the holiday, some children
who were being instructed in calisthenics by A. F. Tilden began
to solicit money, their childish enthusiasm resulting in the
appointing of a committee, the collecting of four hundred dol-
lars, and a picnic in Don Luis Sainsevain's enclosed garden.
A year later, Tilden announced that he would open a place
for gymnastic exercises in "Temple's New Block;" charging
men three dollars for the use of the apparatus and the privilege
of a shower-bath, and training boys at half rates. This was
the origin of systematic physical culture in Los Angeles.
IS
CHAPTER XIX
STEAM-WAGON — ODD CHARACTERS
i860
EARLY in i860, Phineas Banning and J. J. Tomlinson,
the energetic rivals in lighterage and freighting at
San Pedro, embarked as lumber merchants, thereby
anticipating the enormous trade that has flowed for years past
from the North through Los Angeles to Southern California
and Arizona. Having many teams, they hauled lumber, when
traffic was not sufficient to keep their wagon-trains busy,
from the harbor to the city or even, when there was need, to
the ranchos. It must have been in the same year that F. P. F.
Temple, at a cost of about forty thousand dollars for lumber
alone, fenced in a wide acreage, at the same time building large
and substantial barns for his stock. By the summer of that
year. Banning was advertising lumber, delivered in Los Angeles;
and from October i st. Banning & Hinchman had an office near
the northern junction of Main and Spring streets. A couple
of years before. Banning in person had directed the driving of
seventeen mule teams, from San Pedro to Fort Yuma, covering,
in twelve or thirteen days, the two hundred and thirty miles of
barely passable road. The following March, Banning and Tom-
linson, who had so often opposed each other even in the courts,
came to an understanding and buried the hatchet for good.
At this time, Joseph Everhardt, who, with Frederick W.
Koll, had conducted the Lafayette Hotel, sold out and moved to
San Francisco, marrying Miss R. Mayer, now John Lang's
widow, sister-in-law of Kiln Messer. Later, Everhardt went
to Sonoma and then to Victoria, B. C, in each place making
his mark ; and in the latter city he died.
274
[i860] Steam- Wagon — Odd Characters 275
Like both Messer and Lang, Everhardt had passed through
varied and tryingexperiences. The owner of theRuss Garden res-
taurant in 1849, in lively San Francisco, he came to Los Angeles
and took hold of the hotel Lafayette. With him was a partner
named Fucht ; but a free fight and display of shooting irons, such
as often enlivened a California hotel, having sent the guests and
hangers-on scurrying to quarters, induced Fucht to sell out his
interests in very short order, whereupon Everhardt took in with
him Frederick W. KoU, who lived on a site now the southeast
corner of Seventh and Spring streets where he had an orange-
grove.
Pursuing Indians was dangerous in the extreme, as Robert
Wilburn found when he went after some twenty head of cattle
stolen from Felix Bachman by Pi-Ute or Paiute Indians in
January, i860, diu-ing one of their marauding expeditions into
California. Wilburn chased the red men but he never came
back; and when his body was found, it was pierced with three
or four arrows, probably shot at him simultaneously by as
many of the cattle-thieves.
Don Tomas A. Sanchez, Sheriff from i860 to 1867, had a
record for physical courage and prowess, having previously been
an officer under Pico in the Mexican War days, and having
later aided Pico in his efforts to punish Barton's murderers.
Sanchez had property; and in 1887 a patent was granted his
estate for four thousand or more acres in the ranch known as
Cienega 6 Paso de la Tijera.
Destructive fires in the open country, if not as common as
now, still occasionally stirred oiu- citizens. Such a fire broke out
in the San Fernando Valley in the middle of July, and spread
so rapidly that a square mile and a half of territory was denuded
and charred. Not only were there no organized means to
fight such fires, but men were compelled to sound the alarm
through couriers on horseback; and if the wind happened to
be blowing across the plains, even the fleetest horseman had all
he cotdd do to avoid the flames and reach in time the widely-
separated rancheros. Here I may add that as late as the sixties
all of the uninhabited parts of Los Angeles, especially to the
276 Sixty Years in Southern California [i860
west of Main Street, were known as plains, and "crossing the
plains" was an expression commonly used with a peculiarly-
local significance.
So wretched were the roads in the early decades after my
arrival, and so many were the plans proposed for increasing
the rapidity of travel, that great curiosity was excited in i860
when it was announced that Phineas Banning had bought a
' ' steam-wagon "and would soon introduce a kind of vehicle such
as Los Angeles, at least, had never before seen. This steam-
wagon was a traction engine built by J. Whitman & Sons, at
Leeds, England, and was already on its way across the ocean.
It had been ordered by Richard A. Ogden, of San Francisco,
for the Patagonia Copper Mining Company, a trial before
shipping having proved that, with a load of thirty-eight tons,
the engine could attain a speed of five miles an hour; and
Banning paid handsomely for the option of purchasing the
vehicle, on condition that it would ultimately prove a success.
The announcement was made in April, and by early June
the engine had reached San Francisco where it made the run
to Mission Dolores in three-quarters of an hour. All the San
Francisco papers told of "the truly wonderful machine," one
reporter averring that "the engineer had so perfect control that
a visit was made to various parts of the city, to the astonish-
ment and gratification of the multitude;" and since these
accounts were immediately copied by the Los Angeles papers
(which added the official announcement that Captain Hughes
had loaded the engine on board his schooner, the Lewis Perry,
and was bringing it south as fast as he could), popular excite-
ment rose like the mercury in summer, and but one more
report was needed to make it the absorbing talk of the hour.
That came on the twenty-eighth of July, when the Star an-
nounced: "The steam- wagon has arrived at San Pedro;" and
it was not long before many persons went down to the port
to get a sight of the wonderful object.
And wait they did. Although the Star said that "all our
citizens were anxiously, hourly, expecting to see Major Banning
heave in sight at the foot of Main Street," no Banning hove!
i860] Steam-Wagon — Odd Characters 277
Instead, on the fourth of August, the same Star broke forth
with this lament: "The steam-wagon is at San Pedro, and we
regret to learn that it is likely to remain there. So far, all
attempts to reach this city with freight have failed. " And that
was the end of the steam- wagon experiment here.
In every community there are characters who, for one
reason or another, develop among their fellows a reputation for
oddity. We have all seen the good-natured, rather stout old
gentleman, whose claim to dignity is his old-fashioned Prince
Albert and rather battered-looking silk hat, but who, although
he boasts many friends, is never successful in the acquisition
of this world's goods. We have seen, too, the vender of ice-
cream, tamales or similar commodity, who in his youth had
been an opera singer or actor, but whose too intensive thirst
rendered him impossible in his profession and brought him far
down in the world. Some were dangerous criminals; some
were harmless, but obnoxious; others still were harmless and
amusing. Many such characters I have met during my sixty
years in Los Angeles; and each filled a certain niche, even those
whose only mission was to furnish their fellows with humor
or amusement having thus contributed to the charm of life.
Viejo Cholo, or Old Half-breed, a Mexican over sixty years
of age who was never known by any other name, was such an
eccentric character. He was half blind; wore a pair of white
linen pantaloons, and for a mantle used an old sheet. This he
threw over his shoulders ; and thus accoutered, he strutted about
the streets like a Spanish cavalier. His cane was a broom-
handle; his lunch-coimter, the swill-bucket; and when times
were particularly bad, Viejo begged. The youngsters of the
pueblo were the bane of Cholo's existence and the torment of his
infirmity and old age.
Cholo was succeeded by Pinikahti, who was half Indian and
half Mexican. He was not over four feet in height and had a
flat nose, a stubby beard and a face badly pockmarked ; and he
presented, altogether, as unkempt and obnoxious an appearance
as one might imagine. Pinikahti was generally attired in a
well-worn straw hat, the top of which was missing, and his long,
278 Sixty Years in Southern California [i860
straight hair stuck out in clumps and snarls. A woolen under-
shirt and a pair of overalls completed his costume, while his
toes, as a rule, protruded from his enormous boots. Unlike
Viejo Cholo, Pinikahti was permitted to go unmolested by the
juvenile portion of the population, inasmuch as, though half-
witted, he was somewhat of an entertainer ; for it was natural for
him to play the flute and — what was really interesting — he made
his own instruments out of the reed that grew along the river
banks. Pinikahti cut just the holes, I suppose, that produced
what seemed to him proper harmony, and on these home-made
flutes performed such airs as his wandering fancy suggested.
He always played weird tunes and danced strange Indian dances ;
and through these crude gifts he became, as I have said, suf-
ficiently popular to enjoy some immunity. Nevertheless, he
was a professional beggar; and whatever he did to afford
amusement, was done, after all, for money. This was easily
explained, for money alone would buy aguardiente, and Pinikahti
had little use for anything else. Aguardiente, as the word was
commonly used in Southern California, was a native brandy,
full of hell fire; and so the poor half-breed was always drunk.
One day Pinikahti drank a glass too much, and this brought
about such a severance of his ties with beautiful Los Angeles
that his absorption of one spirit released, at last, the other.
Sometime in the eventful sixties, a tall, angular, muscular-
looking woman was here, who went by the singular sobriquet of
Captain Jinks, a title which she received from a song then very
popular, the first couplet of which ran something like this :
I'm Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines,
I feed my horse on pork and beans !
She half strode, half jerked her way along the street, as though
scanning the lines of that ditty with her feet. She was strong
for woman's rights, she said; and she certainly looked it.
Chinamen were not only more numerous by i860, but
they had begun to vary their occupations, many working as
servants, laundrymen or farm hands. In March, a Chinese
company was also organized to compete for local fish trade.
i860] Steam-Wagon — Odd Characters 279
In i860, Emile Bordenave & Company opened the Louisiana
CoflEee Saloon as a French restaurant. Roast duck and oysters
were their specialty, and they charged fifty cents a meal. But
they also served "a plate at one bit."' Some years later, there
was a two-bit restaurant known as Brown's on Main Street,
near the United States Hotel, where a good, substantial meal
was served.
James, often called Santiago Johnson, who, for a short time
prior to his death about i860 or 1861, was a forwarder of
freight at San Pedro, came to Los Angeles in 1833 with a
cargo of Mexican and Chinese goods, and after that owned
considerable ranch property. In addition to ranching, he also
engaged extensively in cattle-raising.
Peter, popularly known as Pete or Bully Wilson, a native of
Sweden, came to Los Angeles about i860. He ran a one horse
dray ; and as soon as he had accumulated sufficient money, he
bought, for twelve hundred dollars, the southeast comer of
Spring and First streets, where he had his stable. He continued
to prosper; and his family still enjoy the fruits of his industry.
The same year, George Smith started to haul freight and
baggage. He had foiur horses hitched to a sombre-looking
vehicle nicknamed the Black Swan.
J. D. Yates was a grocer and provision-dealer of i860,
with a store on the Plaza.
I have referred to Bishop Amat as presiding over the Dio-
cese of Monterey and Los Angeles ; but Los Angeles was linked
with Monterey, for a while, even in judicial matters. Beginning
with i860 or 1 86 1 (when Fletcher M. Haight, father of Governor
H. H. Haight, was the first Judge to preside), the United States
Court for the Southern District of California was held alternately
in the two towns mentioned, Colonel J. 0. Wheeler serving as
Clerk and the Court for the Southern term occupying seven
rooms of the second story of John Temple's Block. These al-
ternate sessions continued to be held until about 1866 when
the tribunal for the Southern District ceased to exist and An-
gelenos were compelled to apply to the court in San Francisco.
■ Twelve and one-half cents.
28o Sixty Years in Southern California 1^^^°
For years, such was the neglect of the Protestant burial
ground that in 1 860 caustic criticism was made by each news-
paper discussing the condition of the cemetery: there was no
fence, headstones were disfigured or demolished, and there was
little or no protection to the graves. As a matter of fact, when
the cemetery on Fort Hill was abandoned, but few of the bodies
were removed.
By i860, the New England Fire Insurance Company, of
Hartford, Connecticut, was advertising here through its local
agent, H. Hamilton — our friend of the Los Angeles Star.
Hamilton used to survey the applicants' premises, forward the
data to William Faulkner, the San Francisco representative,
who executed the policy and mailed the document back
to Los Angeles. After a while, Samuel Briggs, with Wells
Fargo & Co., represented the Phoenix Insurance Company.
H. Newmark & Company also sold insurance somewhat
later, representing the Commercial Union Insurance Company.
About 1880, however, they disposed of their insurance interests
to Maurice Kremer, whose main competitor was W. J. Brodrick;
and from this transaction developed the firm of Kremer, Camp-
bell & Company, still in that business. Not only in this con-
nection but elsewhere in these memoirs it may be noted how
little specialization there was in earlier days in Los Angeles ; in
fact it was not until about 1880 that this process, distinctive
of economic progress, began to appear in Los Angeles. I my-
self have handled practically every staple that makes up the
very great proportion of merchandising activity, whereas my
successors of to-day, as well as their competitors, deal only in
groceries and kindred lines.
Two brothers, Emile and Theophile Vache, in the fall of
i860, started what has become the oldest firm — Vache Freres —
in the local wine business, at first utilizing the Bernard residence
at Alameda and Third streets, in time used by the Govern-
ment as a bonded warehouse. Later, they removed to the
building on Aliso Street once occupied by the Medical College,
where the cellars proved serviceable for a winery. There
they attempted the manufacture of cream of tartar from wine-
i86o] Steam-Wagon — Odd Characters 281
crystals, but the venture was not remunerative. In 1881, the
Vaches, joined by their brother Adolphe, began to grow grapes
in the Barton Vineyard in San Bernardino County, and some
time afterward they bought near-by land and started the
famous Brookside Vineyard. Emile is now dead; while Theo-
phile, who retired and returned to Europe in 1892, retaining
an interest in the firm of T. Vache & Company, passes his hours
pleasantly on the picturesque island of St. George d'Oleron, in
the Charente Inferieure, in his native France.
On September 21st, Captain W. S. Hancock, who first came
to Los Angeles in connection with the expedition against the
Mojave Indians in 1858, sought to establish a new kind of
express between Los Angeles and Fort Mojave, and sent out a
camel in charge of Greek George to make the trial trip. When
they had been gone two and a half days, the regiolar express
messenger bound for Los Angeles met them at Lane's Crossing,
apparently in none too promising a condition ; which later gave
rise to a report that the camel had died on the desert. This
occasioned numerous newspaper squibs d propos of both the
speed and the staying powers of the camel as contrasted with
those of the burro; and finally, in October, the following
announcement appeared placarded throughout the town :
By Poulterer, De Ro & Eldridge
Office and Salesroom, Corner California &
Front Streets, San Francisco.
Peremptory Sale
OF
Bactrian Camels
Imported from the Amoor River
Ex Caroline E. Foote.
On Wednesday, Oct. id, i860,
We will Sell at Public Auction]
In Lots to Suit Purchasers,
for Cash,
13 Bactrian Camels,
From a cold and mountainous country, comprising 6 males and 7 females,
(5 being with young,) all in fine health and condition.
* * * For further particulars, inquire of the Auctioneers.
282 Sixty Years in Southern California [i860
In 1858, Richard Garvey came to Los Angeles and entered
the Government service as a messenger, between this city and
New Mexico, for Captain W. S. Hancock. Later, he went to the
Holcomb Valley mines, where he first met Lucky Baldwin ; and
by 1872 he had disposed of some San Bernardino mine proper-
ties at a figure which seemed to permit his retirement and ease
for the rest of his life. For the next twenty years, he was
variously employed, at times operating for Baldwin. Garvey
is at present living in Los Angeles.
What was one of the last bullfights here, toward the end
of September, when a little child was trodden upon in the ring,
reminds me not only of the succeeding sports, including horse-
racing, but as well that Francis Temple should be credited with
encouraging the importation and breeding of good horses.
In i860 he paid seven thousand dollars, then considered an
enormous sum, for Black Warrior; and not long afterward he
bought Billy Blossom at a fancy figure.
A political gathering or two enlivened the year i860. In
July, when the local sentiment was, to all appearances, strongly
in favor of Breckenridge and Lane, the Democratic candidates
for President and Vice-President, one hundred guns were fired
in their honor; and great was the jubilation of the Democratic
hosts. A later meeting, under the auspices of the Breckenridge
Club, was held in front of the Montgomery saloon on Main
Street. Judge Dryden presided, and Senator Milton S. Latham
was the chief speaker. A number of ladies graced the oc-
casion, some seated in chairs near by and others remaining
in their vehicles drawn up in a semicircle before the speaker's
stand. As a result of all this effort, the candidates in question
did lead in the race here, but only by four votes. On counting
the ballots the day after election, it was found that Brecken-
ridge had two hundred and sixty-seven votes, while Douglas,
the Independent Democratic nominee, had polled two hundred
and sixty-three. Of permanent interest, perhaps, as showing
the local sentiment on other questions of the time, is that Lincoln
received in Los Angeles only one hiindred and seventy-nine
votes.
i860] Steam-Wagon — Odd Characters 283
Generally, a candidate persuaded his friends to nominate
and endorse him, but now and then one came forward and ad-
dressed the pubHc directly. In the fall of i860, the following
announcement appeared in the Southern News:
To THE Voters of Los Angeles Township:
I am a candidate for the office of Justice of the Peace, and
I desire to say to you, frankly, that I want you all to vote for me
on the 6th of November next. I aspire to the office for two
reasons, — first, because I am vain enough to believe that I
am capable of performing the duties required, with credit to
myself and to the satisfaction of all good citizens; second,
because I am poor, and am desiring of making an honest living
thereby.
William G. Still.
During my first visit to San Francisco, in the fall of 1853, and
while en route to Los Angeles, my attention was called to a line of
electric telegraph, then just installed between the Golden Gate
and the town, for use in reporting the arrival of vessels. About
a month later a line was built from San Francisco to Sacra-
mento, Stockton and around to San Jose. Nothing further,
however, was done toward reaching Southern California with
the electric wire until the end of May or the beginning of
June, i860, when President R. E. Raimond and Secretary Fred.
J. McCrellish (promoters of the Pacific & Atlantic Telegraph
Company, organized in 1858 to reach San Antonio, Texas, and
Memphis, Tennessee) came to Los Angeles to lay the matter
before our citizens. Stock was soon subscribed for a line
through the city and as far as Fort Yuma, and in a few days
Banning had fifty teams ready to haul the telegraph poles,
which were deposited in time along the proposed route. In
the beginning, interest was stimulated by the promise that the
telegraph would be in operation by the Fourth of July; but
Independence Day came and went, and the best that the
telegraph company could do was to make the ambiguous report
284 Sixty Years in Southern California [i860
that there were so and so many "holes in the ground. " Worse
than that, it was announced, toward the end of July, that the
stock of wire had given out ; and still worse, that no more could
be had this side of the Atlantic States ! That news was indeed
discouraging; but by the middle of August, twenty tons of wire
were known to be on a clipper boimd for San Francisco, around
the Horn, and five tons were being hurried here by steamer.
The wire arrived, in due season, and the most energetic efforts
were made to establish telegraphic communication between
Los Angeles and San Francisco. It was while McCrellish was
slowly returning to the North, in June, that I met him as
narrated in a previous chapter.
Finally, at eight o'clock on October 8th, i860, a few magic
words from the North were ticked out in the Los Angeles office
of the telegraph company. Two hours later, as those familiar
with our local history know, Mayor Henry Melius sent the
following memorable message to H. F. Teschemacher, President
of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors:
Allow me, on behalf of the citizens of Los Angeles, to send
you greeting of fellowship and good-feeling on the comple-
tion of the line of telegraph which now binds the two cities
together.
Whereupon, the next day. President Teschemacher (who, by
the way, was a well-known importer, having brought the first
almond seed from the Mediterranean in the early fifties) replied
to Mayor Melius:
Yoiir despatch has just been received. On behalf of the
citizens of San Francisco, I congratulate Los Angeles, trusting
that the benefit may be mutual.
A ball in Los Angeles fittingly celebrated the event, as
will be seen from the following despatch, penned by Henry D.
Barrows, who was then Southern California correspondent of
the Bulletin:
i860] Steam- Wagon — Odd Characters 285
Los Angeles, October 9, i860,
10.45 A. M.
Here is the maiden salutation of Los Angeles to San Fran-
cisco by lightning! This despatch — the first to the press from
this point — the correspondent of the Bulletin takes pleasure in
communicating in behalf of his fellow-citizens. The first
intelligible communication by the electric wire was received
here last night at about eight o'clock, and a few hours later,
at a grand and brilliant ball, given in honor of the occasion,
despatches were received from San Francisco announcing the
complete working of the entire line. Speeches were made
in the crowded ball-room by E. J. C. Kewen and J. McCrellish.
News of Colonel Baker's election in Oregon to the United States
Senate electrified the Republicans, but the Breckenridges
doubted it at first. Just before leaving yesterday. Senator
Latham planted the first telegraph pole from this point east,
assisted by a concourse of citizens.
Barrows' telegram concluded with the statement, highly sug-
gestive of the future commercial possibilities of the telegraph,
that the steamer Senator would leave San Pedro that evening
with three thousand or more boxes of grapes.
On October i6th, the steamer /. T. Wright, named after the
boat-owner and widely advertised as "new, elegant, and fast,"
arrived at San Pedro, in charge of Captain Robert Haley; and
many persons professed to see in her appearance on the scene
new hope for beneficial coastwise competition. After three or
four. trips, however, the steamer was withdrawn.
Leonard John Rose, a German by birth, and brother-in-
law of H. K. S. O'Melveny, arrived with his family by the
Butterfield Stage Route in November, having fought and con-
quered, so to speak, every step of his way from Illinois, from
which State, two years before, he had set out. Rose and
other pioneers tried to reach California along the Thirty-fifth
parallel, a route surveyed by Lieutenant Beale but presenting
terrific hardships; on the sides of mountains, at times, they had
to let down their wagons by ropes, and again they almost died
of thirst. The Mojave Indians, too, set upon them and did not
desist until seventeen Indians had been killed and nine whites
were slain or wounded, Rose himself not escaping injury. With
286 Sixty Years in Southern California [i860
the help of other emigrants, Rose and his family managed to
reach Albuquerque, where within two years in the hotel busi-
ness he acquired fourteen thousand dollars. Then, coming to
Los Angeles, he bought from William Wolfskill one hundred
and sixty acres near the old Mission of San Gabriel, and so
prospered that he was soon able to enlarge his domain to over
two thousand acres. He laid out a splendid vineyard and
orange grove, and being full of ambition, enterprise and taste,
it was not long before he had the show-place of the county.
Apparently, Temple really inaugurated his new theater
with the coming to Los Angeles in November of that year of
"the Great Star Company of Stark & Ryer, " as well as with
the announcement made at the time by their management:
"This is the first advent of a theatrical company here. " Stark
& Ryer were in Los Angeles for a week or two; and though I
should not vouch for them as stars, the little hall was crowded
each night, and almost to suffocation. There were no fire
ordinances then as to filling even the aisles and the window-
sills, nor am I sure that the conventional fire-pail, more often
empty than filled with water, stood anywhere about; but
just as many tickets were sold, regardless of the seating ca-
pacity. Tragedy gave way, alternately, to comedy, one of
the evenings being devoted to The Honeymoon; and as this
was not quite long enough to satisfy the onlookers, who had
neither trains nor boats to catch, there was an after-piece.
In those days, when Los Angeles was entirely dependent on
the North for theatrical and similar talent, it sometimes
happened that the steamer was delayed or that the "star"
failed to catch the ship and so could not arrive when expected;
as a result of which patrons, who had journeyed in from the
ranches, had to journey home again with their curiosity and
appetite for the histrionic unsatisfied.
Prisoners, especially Indians, were employed on public works.
As late as November, i860, the Water Overseer was empowered
to take out any Indians who might be in the calaboose, and
to use them for repairing the highways and bridges.
About i860, Nathan Jacoby came to Los Angeles, on my
i8H Steam-Wagon — Odd Characters 287
invitation, as I had known him in Europe ; and he was with me
about a year. When I sold out, he entered the employ of M.
Kremer and later went into business for himself. As the
senior partner of Jacoby Brothers, he died suddenly in 191 1.
Associated with Nathan at different periods were his brothers,
Herman, Abraham, Morris, Charles and Lesser Jacoby, all of
them early arrivals. Of this group, Charles and Lesser, both
active in business circles in their day, are also dead.
Toward the end of i860, Solomon Lazard returned to
France, to visit his mother; but no sooner had he arrived at his
old home and registered, according to law, with the police,
than he was arrested, charged with having left his fatherland at
the age of seventeen, without having performed military duty.
In spite of his American citizenship, he was tried by court-
martial and sentenced to a short imprisonment; but through
the intervention of the United States Minister, Charles J.
Faulkner — the author of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 —
and the clemency of the Emperor Napoleon III., he was finally
released. He had to furnish a substitute, however, or pay a
fine of fifteen hundred francs; and he paid the fine. At length,
notwithstanding his unpleasant experience, Lazard arrived in
Los Angeles about the middle of March, 1861.
Tired of the wretched sidewalks, John Temple, in Decem-
ber, i860, set to work to introduce an improvement in front
of his Main Street block, an experiment that was watched with
interest. Bricks were covered with a thick coating of asphalt
brought from La Brea Ranch, which was smoothed while still
warm and then sprinkled with sand ; the combination promising
great durability. In the summer season, however, the coating
became soft and gluey, and was not comfortable to walk upon.
I have already spoken of the effect of heat and age on
foodstuffs such as eggs and butter, when brought over the hot
desert between San Bernardino and Los Angeles. This dis-
advantage continued for years; nor was the succeeding plan
of bringing provisions from San Francisco and the North by
way of the ocean without its obstacles. A. Ulyard, the baker,
realized the situation, and in December advertised "fresh
288 Sixty Years in Southern California [i860]
crackers, baked in Los Angeles, and superior to those half
spoiled by the sea voyage."
Previous to the days of warehouses, and much before the
advent of railroads, the public hay-scale was an institution,
having been constructed by Francis Melius in the dim past.
Exposed to the elements, it stood alone out in the center
of Los Angeles Street, somewhat south of Aliso; and in the
lawless times of the young town was a silent witness to the
numerous crimes perpetrated in the adjacent Calle de Los
Negros. Onto its rough platform the neighboring farmers
drove their heavy loads, often waiting an hour or two for the
arrival of the owner, who alone had the key to its mysterious
mechanism. Speaking of this lack of a warehouse brings to
my mind the pioneer of 1850, Edouard Naud, who first at-
tracted attention as a clever pastryman with a little shop on
Commercial Street where he made a specialty of lady-fingers —
selling them at fifty cents a dozen. Engaging in the wool in-
dustry, he later become interested in wool and this led him in
1878 to erect Naud's warehouse on Alameda Street, at present
known as the Union Warehouse. ' Naud died in 188 1. His son,
Edward, born in Los Angeles, is famous as an amateur chef
who can prepare a French dinner that even a professional
might be proud of.
In May, as elsewhere stated, Henry Melius was elected
Mayor of Los Angeles; and on the twenty-sixth of December
he died — the first to yield that office to the inexorable
demands of Death. The news of his demise called forth
unfeigned expressions of regret ; for Melius was not only a man
of marked ability, but he was of genial temperament and the
soul of honor.
• Destroyed by fire on September 22d, 1915.
CHAPTER XX
THE RTJMBLINGS OF WAR
I861
THE year 1861 dawned dark and foreboding. On the
twentieth of the preceding December, South Carolina
had seceded, and along the Pacific, as elsewhere, men
were anxiously wondering what would happen next. Threats
and counter-threats clearly indicated the disturbed state of
the public mind; and when, near Charleston Harbor, a hostile
shot was fired at the Star of the West, the certainty of further
trouble, particularly with the coming inauguration of Lincoln,
was everywhere felt.
Aside, however, from these disturbing events so much
affecting commercial life, the year, sandwiched between two
wet seasons, was in general a prosperous one. There were evil
effects of the heavy rains, and business in the spring was
rather dull ; but cattlemen, upon whose success so many other
people depended, took advantage of the favoring conditions
and profited accordingly.
During the period of the flood in 1859-60, the river, as
we have seen, was impassable, and for months there was so
much water in the bed, ordinarily dry, that foot-passage was
interrupted. In January, 1861, therefore, the Common
Council, under the influence of one of its members, E. Moulton,
whose dairy was in East Los Angeles, provided a flimsy foot-
bridge in his neighborhood. If my memory serves me, con-
struction was delayed, and so the bridge escaped the next
winter's flood, though it went down years later.
19 289
290 Sixty Years in Southern California [1861
On January 9th, the schooner Lewis Perry arrived at anchor-
age, to be towed across the bar and to the wharf by the httle
steamer' Comet. This was the first sea-going vessel that had
ever visited New San Pedro with a full cargo, and demon-
strated, it was thought by many, that the port was easily
navigable by vessels drawing eleven feet of water or less!
Comments of all kinds were made upon this event, one scribe
writing :
We expect to see coasting steamers make their regular
trips to New Town, discharging freight and loading passengers
on the wharf, safe from the dangers of rough weather, instead
of lying off at sea, subjecting life and property to the perils of
southeast gales and the breakers. The Senator even, in the
opinion of experienced persons, might easily enter the channel
on the easterly side of Dead Man's Island, and thence find a safe,
passage in the Creek. It will yet happen!
John M. Griffith came to Los Angeles in 1861, having four
years previously married a sister of John J. Tomlinson. With
the latter he formed a partnership in the passenger and freight-
carrying business, their firm competing with Banning & Com-
pany until 1868, when Tomlinson died.
This same year, at the age of about eighteen, Eugene Meyer
arrived. He first clerked for Solomon Lazard, in the retail dry-
goods business ; and in 1 867 he was admitted into partnership. •
On November 20th of that year Meyer married Miss Harriet,
the youngest daughter of Joseph Newmark— who officiated.
Felix Bachman, who came in 1853, was at various times
in partnership with Philip Sichel (after whom Sichel Street is
named, and Councilman in 1862), Samuel Laubheim and Ben
Schloss, the firm being known as Bachman & Company; and
on Los Angeles Street near Commercial they carried on the
largest business in town. Bachman secured much Salt Lake
trade and in 1861 opposed high freight rates; but although
well off when he left here, he died a poor man in San Francisco,
at the age of nearly one hundred years.
In 1 86 1, Adolph Junge arrived and established a drug-
' A term locally applied to tugs.
a
o
CO
S
o
I— »
>-.
I
ID
a
W
» -a-^
■^w.
Los Angeles County in 1854
From a contemporary map
The Morris Adobe, once Fremont's Headquarters
i86i] The Rumblings of War 291
store in the Temple Block, his only competitor being Theodore
Wollweber; and there he continued for nearly twenty years, one
of his prescription books, now in the County Museum, evi-
dencing his activity. For a while, F. J. Gieze, the well-known
druggist for so many years on North Main Street, and an
arrival of '74, clerked for Junge. At the beginning of the
sixties, Dr. A. B. Hayward practiced medicine here, his office
being next to Workman Brothers' saddlery, on Main Street.
Wollweber's name recalls a practical joke of the late sixties,
when some waggish friend raised the cry that there was a bear
across the river, and induced my Teutonic neighbor to go in
hot pursuit. After bracing himself for the supreme effort,
Wollweber shot the beast dead; only to learn that the bear,
a blind and feeble animal, was a favorite pet, and that
it would take just twenty-five dollars to placate the irate
owner !
The absence in general of shade trees was so noticeable that
when John Temple, on January 31st, planted a row facing
Temple Building there was the usual town gossip. Charley
Ducommon followed Temple's example. Previously, there had
been several wide-spreading trees in front of the Bella Union
hotel, and it came to pass within the next five years that many
pepper-trees adorned the streets.
In 1 86 1, the Post Office was removed from North Spring
Street to a frame building on Main Street, opposite Commer-
cial. About the same time when, owing to floods, no mail
arrived for three or four weeks and someone facetiously hung
out a sign announcing the office "To Let!" the Washington
postal authorities began issuing stamped envelopes, of the
values of twelve and twenty-four cents, for those business men
of Los Angeles and the Pacific Coast who were likely to use the
recently-developed Pony Express.
Matthew Keller, or Don Mateo, as he was called, who died
in 1 88 1, was a quaint personality of real ability, who had a
shop on the northwest corner of Los Angeles and Commercial
streets, and owned the adjoining store in which P. Beaudry had
been in business. His operations were original and his adver-
292 Sixty Years in Southern California [1861
tising unique, as will be seen from his announcement in the
Star in February:
M. Keller, to His Customers
You are hereby notified that the time has at last arrived
when you must pay up, without further delay, or I shall be
obliged to invoke the aid of the law and the lawyers.
Your most ob't servant,
M. Keller.
Which warning was followed, in the next issue, by this :
M. Keller, to His Customers
The Right of Secession Admitted!
You are hereby notified that the time has arrived when
you must pay up, without further delay, or I shall be obliged
to invoke the aid of the law and the lawyers.
After such settlement, slow-payers are requested to secede.
M. Keller.
(to be augmented next week)
This later advertisement, with the line in parenthesis,
continued to be printed, week after week, without change,
for at least twelve months.
The following year, Keller, in flaring headlines, offered for
sale the front of his Los Angeles vineyard, facing on Aliso
Street, in building lots of twenty by one hundred feet, saying,
in his prospectus :
Great improvements are on the tapis in this quarter.
Governor Downey and the intrepid Beaudry propose to open a
street to let the light of day shine in upon their dark domains.
On the Equerry side of Aliso Street, "what fine legs your master
has," must run to give way for more permanent fixtures.
Further on, the Prior estates are about to be improved by the
astute and far-seeing Templito; and Keller sells lots on the
sunny side of Aliso Street. The map is on view at my office;
come in and make your selections, — first come, first served!
Terms will be made handy !
M. Keller.
i86i] The Rumblings of War 293
Nathaniel Pry or — sometimes known as Don Miguel N.
Pryor or Prior — ^is the pioneer referred to by Keller. At the
age of thirty, it is said, in 1828, he came here, and fifteen or
twenty years later, about the time that he was a Regidor or
Councilman, was one of eight or ten Easterners who had farms
within the pueblo district. His property, in part a vineyard,
included what is now Commercial to First streets and possibly
from Los Angeles Street to the river; on it was an adobe which
is stUl standing on Jackson Street, and is the only mud-
brick structure in that section. For a while, and probably
because he had loaned Pryor some money, F. P. F. Temple had
an interest in the estate. Pryor was twice married, having
a son, Charles, by his first wife, and a son, Nathaniel, Jr., by his
second. Pablo Pryor of San Juan was another son. The
first Mrs. Pryor died about 1840, and is one of the few — with
the mother of Pio Pico — buried inside of the old church at the
Plaza. The second Mrs. Pryor, who inherited the property, died
about 1857. A granddaughter, Mrs. Lottie Pryor, is a sur-
viving member of this family.
During the administration of Padre Bias Raho, a genial,
broad-minded Italian, several attempts were made, beginning
with 1857 or 1858, to improve the old church at the Plaza; and
in 1861, the historic edifice, so long unchanged, was practically
rebuilt. The front adobe wall, which had become damaged by
rains, was taken down and reconstructed of brick ; some alter-
ations were made in the tower; and the interesting old tiled
roof was replaced — to the intense regret of later and more
appreciative generations — with modern, less durable shingles.
A fence was provided, and trees, bushes and plants were set out.
The church was also frescoed, inside and out, by Henri Penelon,
the French pioneer artist and photographer, who painted upon
the wall the following inscription :
Los Fieles de Esta Parroquia a la Reina de los Angeles, 1861.^
Early in March, Sanchez Street was opened by the Common
Council. It was opposite the northern section of Arcadia
'" The Faithful of this Parish, to the Queen of the Angels."
294 Sixty Years in Southern California [1861
Block, passed through the properties of Sanchez, Pico, Coronel
and others, and terminated at the Plaza.
The Los Angeles Mounted Rifles, part of the five thousand
militia wanted by California, was organized on March 6th at a
meeting in the Court House presided over by George W. Gift,
with M. J. Newmark, who became an officer in the company,
as Secretary.
Late in March, John Frohling rented from the City Fathers
a space under the Temple Market bmlding for a wine cellar;
and in December, i860, at the close of his vintage, when he had
conducted a hearty harvest-home celebration, he filled the
vault with pipes and other casks containing twenty thousand
or more gallons of native wines. In a corner, a bar was speedily
built; and by many Angelenos that day not associated with
at least one pilgrimage to Frohling's cool and rather obscure
recesses was considered incomplete.
Few who witnessed the momentous events of 1861 will
forget the fever-heat of the nation. The startling news of the
attack on Fort Sumter took twelve days by Pony Express to
reach the Coast, the overland telegraph not being completed
until six months later; but when, on the twenty -fourth of April,
the last messenger in the relay of riders dashed into San Fran-
cisco with the story, an excited population was soon seething
about the streets. San Francisco instantly flashed the details
south, awakening here much the same mingled feelings of
elation and sorrow.
When the war thus broke out, Albert Sidney Johnston,
a fellow-townsman who had married a sister of Dr. J. S. Griffin,
and who, in 1857, had successfully placed Utah under Federal
control, resigned from his command as head of the Department
of the Pacific — General Edwin V. Sumner succeeding him^and,
being a Southerner, left for the South, by way of Warner's
Ranch and the Overland Route, with about a hundred com-
panions, most of whom were intercepted at Fort Yuma through
the orders of Captain W. S. Hancock. According to Senator
Cornelius Cole, Sumner arrived at Johnston's headquarters in
San Francisco after dark; and in spite of Johnston's protest,
i86il The Rumblings of War 295
insisted on assuming command at once. Johnston took up
arms for the Confederacy, and was made a Brigadier-General;
but at Shiloh he was killed, the news of his death causing here
the sincerest regret. I shall speak of the loss of one of General
Johnston's sons in the disaster to the Ada Hancock; another
son, William Preston, became President of Tulane University.
Others of our more enthusiastic Southerners, such as
Cameron E. Thom and J. Lancaster Brent, also joined the
Rebellion and proceeded to the seat of war. Thom, who has
since attained much distinction, returned to Los Angeles,
where he is still living'. Brent never came back here, having
settled near New Orleans ; and there I again met him, while I
was attending the Exposition. He had fought through the
War, becoming a General before its close ; and he told me that
he had been arrested by Federal ofhcers while on his way to
the South from Los Angeles, but had made his escape.
Among the very few who went to the front on the Union side
and returned here was Charles Meyrs Jenkins, already referred
to as a city Zanjero. Owing to the possible need of troops
here, as well as to the cost of transportation, volunteers from the
Pacific slope were not called for and Jenkins joined an Eastern
cavalry battalion organized in October, 1862. Even then, he
and his comrades were compelled to pay their own way to the
Atlantic seaboard, where they were incorporated into the
Second Massachusetts Cavalry. Jenkins engaged in twenty
battles, and for fifteen months was a prisoner of war confined
at both Andersonville and Libby; suffering such terrible hard-
ships that he was but one of three, out of a hundred and fifty
of his battalion, who came out alive.
Not everyone possibly even among those familiar with the
building of the Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad, knows
that an effort was made, as far back as 1861, to finance a rail-
road here. About the middle of February in that year, Murray
Morrison and Abel Stearns, Assemblymen, learned of the
willingness of Eastern capitalists to build such a road within
eighteen months, providing the County would subscribe one
■ Captain Thom died on February 2d, 1915.
296 Sixty Years in Southern California U861
hundred thousand dollars toward the undertaking, and the
City fifty thousand. The Legislature therefore on May 17th,
1 861, granted the franchise; but important as was the matter
to our entire district, nothing further was done until 1863
to give life to the movement.
For almost a decade after I came here, St. Valentine's Day
was seldom observed in Los Angeles; but about 1861 or 1862,
the annual exchange of decorated cards, with their sentimen-
tal verses, came to be somewhat general.
Phineas Banning was a staunch Republican and an ardent
Abolitionist; and it was not extraordinary that on May 25th,
at a grand Union demonstration in Los Angeles, he should
have been selected to present to the Union Club, in his charac-
teristically vigorous manner, an American flag made for the
occasion. Columbus Sims, as President, accepted the emblem,
after which there was a procession, led by the First Dragoons'
band, many participants being on horseback. In those days
such a procession had done its duty when it tramped along
Main Street and around the Plaza and back, by way of Spring
Street, as far as First; and everyone was in the right frame of
mind to hear and enjoy the patriotic speeches made by Captain
Winfield Scott Hancock, General Ezra Drown and Major James
Henry Carleton, while in the distance was fired a salute of
thirty-four guns — one for each State in the Union.
Senator William McKendree Gwin was another man of
prominence. Following his search for gold with the Forty-
niners — due, he used to say, to advice from John C. Calhoun,
who, probably taking his cue from Dana's prophecy in Two
Years Before the Mast, one day put his finger on the map and
predicted that, should the bay now called San Francisco ever
be possessed by Americans, a city rivaling New York woxild
spring up on its shores — Gwin came to Los Angeles occasion-
ally, and never forgot to visit me at my home. In 1861, he
was arrested by the Federal Government for his known sym-
pathy with the South, and was kept a prisoner for a couple of
years; after which he went to France and there planned to
carry through, under force of arms, the colonization of Sonora,
i86ii The Rumblings of War 297
Mexico, depending in vain on Napoleon III. and Maximilian
for support. Notwithstanding this futile effort, Gwin became
a leader in national Democratic councils, and was an intimate
adviser of Samuel J. Tilden in his historic campaign.
Oscar Macy, son of Dr. Obed Macy, having as a news-
paper man enthusiastically advocated the election of Fremont
in 1856, was appointed, on Lincoln's inaugviration, to the
CoUectorship of Customs at San Pedro; a post which he con-
tinued to fill even after the office had been reduced to an in-
spectorship, later resigning in favor of George C. Alexander.
This recalls another appointment by Lincoln — that of Major
Antonio Maria Pico, a nephew of Pio Pico, to the Receivership
of Public Moneys at Los Angeles. Pico lived at San Jose;
and finding that his new duties exiled him from his family, he
soon resigned the office.
Old-time barbers, as the reader may be aware, were often
surgeons, and the arrival in Commercial Street, in the early
sixties, of J. A. Meyer, "late of San Francisco," was an-
nounced in part as follows :
Gentlemen will be waited on and have Shaving, Hair- Dress-
ing, and Shampooing prepared in the most luxurious manner,
and in the finest style of the art ; while Cupping, Bleeding, and
Teeth-Extracting will also be attended to !
Fort Tejon had been pretty well broken up by June, when
a good deal of the army property was moved to Los Angeles.
Along with Uncle Sam's bag and baggage, came thirty or more
of the camels previously mentioned, including hah a dozen
"young uns." For some months they were corralled uncom-
fortably near the genial Quartermaster's Main Street office;
but in October they were removed to a yard fixed up for them
on D. Anderson's premises, opposite the Second Street school-
house.
Starting with the cook brought to Los Angeles by Joseph
Newmark, the Chinese popiilation in 1861 had increased to
twenty-one men and eight women — a few of them cooks and
298 Sixty Years in Southern California [1861]
servants, but most of them working in five or six laundries.
About the middle of June of that year, Chun Chick arrived
from San Francisco and created a flurry, not merely in China-
town, but throughout our little city, by his announcement that
he would start a store here; and by the thirteenth of July, this
pioneer Chinese shop, a veritable curiosity shop, was opened.
The establishment was on Spring Street, opposite the Court
House; and besides a general assortment of Chinese goods,
there was a fine display of preserves and other articles hitherto
not obtainable in town. Chun Chick was clever in his appeals
of "A Chinese Merchant to the Public;" but he nevertheless
joined the celebrities advertised for delinquent taxes. Chun
Chick — or, as he appeared on the tax collector's list. Chick
Chun — was down for five hundred dollars in merchandise, with
one dollar and twenty-five cents for City, and the same
amount for school taxes. Sing Hop, Ching Hop and Ah
Hong were other Chinamen whose memory failed at the critical
tax time of that year.
For years, until wharves made possible for thousands the
pleasures of rod and reel, clams, since used for bait, were almost
a drug on the market, being hawked about the streets in 1861
at a dollar a bucket — a price not very remunerative consider-
ing that they came from as far north as San Buenaventura.
CHAPTER XXI
HANCOCK — ^LADY FRANKLIN — THE DELUGE
1861
WHEN the Civil War began, California and the neigh-
boring territory showed such pronounced Southern
sympathies that the National Government kept
both under close surveillance, for a time stationing Major,
afterward General James Henry Carle ton — in 1862 sent across
the Colorado River when the Government drove out the
Texans — with a force at Camp Latham, near Ballona, and
dispatching another force to Drum Barracks, near Wilming-
ton. The Government also established a thorough system
of espionage over the entire Southwest. In Los Angeles and
vicinity, many people, some of whom I mention elsewhere,
were arrested; among them being Henry Schaefler who was
taken to Wilmington Barracks but through influential friends
was released after a few days. On account of the known politi-
cal views of their proprietors, some of the hotels also were
placed under watch for a while ; but beyond the wrath of the
innkeepers at the sentinels pacing up and down their verandas,
nothing more serious transpired. Men on both sides grew hot-
headed and abused one another roundly, but few bones were
broken and little blood was shed. A policy of leniency was
adopted by the authorities, and sooner or later persons
arrested for political offenses were discharged.
The ominous tidings from beyond the Colorado, and their
effect, presaging somewhat the great internecine conflict,
recalls an unpublished anecdote of Winfield Scott Hancock,
299
300 Sixty Years in Southern California [1861
who was a graduate of West Point, an intense patriot and a
"natural born" fighter. One day in 1861, coincident with the
Texan invasion, and while I was visiting him in his office on
Main Street near Third (after he had removed from the upstairs
rooms adjoining the Odd Fellows' Hall in the Temple Build-
ing) , John Goller dropped in with the rumor that conspirators,
in what was soon to become Arizona, were about to seize the
Government stores. Hancock was much wrought up when he
heard the report, and declared, with angry vehemence, that he
would "treat the whole damned lot of them as common thieves!"
In the light of this demonstration and his subsequent part as
a national character of great renown, Hancock's speech at the
Fourth of July celebration, in 1861, when the patriotic An-
gelenos assembled at the Plaza and marched to the shady grove
of Don Luis Sainsevain, is worthy of special note. Hancock
made a sound argument for the preservation of the Union, and
was heartily applauded; and a few days afterward one of the
local newspapers, in paying him a deserved tribute, almost
breathed an augury in saying:
Captain Hancock's loyalty to the Stars and Stripes has
never for a moment been doubted, and we hope he may be
advanced in rank and honors, and live to a green old age, to see
the glorious banner of our country yet waving in peaceful glory
over a united, prosperous, and happy people.
Few of us, however, who heard Hancock speak on that
occasion, dreamed to what high position he would eventually
attain.
Soon after this episode, that is, in the early part of August,
1 86 1, Hancock left for the front, in company with his wife;
and taking with him his military band, he departed from San
Pedro on the steamer Senator. Some of my readers may know
that Mrs. Hancock — after whom the ill-fated Ada Hancock
was named — was a Southern woman, and though very devoted
to her husband, had certain natural sympathies for the South;
but none, I dare say, will have heard how she perpetrated
an amusing joke upon him on their way north. When once
i86i] Hancock — Lady Franklin — The Deluge 301
out upon the briny deep, she induced the musicians to play
Dixie, to the great amusement of the passengers. Like many
Southerners, Mrs. Hancock was an Episcopalian and frequently
contributed her unusual musical talent to the service of the choir
of St. Athanasius Church, the little edifice for a while at the foot
of Pound Cake Hill — first the location of the Los Angeles High
School and now of the County Courthouse — and the forerunner
of the Episcopal Pro-Cathedral, on Olive Street opposite
Central Park.
Having in mind the sojourn in Los Angeles for years of
these representative Americans, the following editorial from
the Los Angeles Star on the departure of the future General
and Presidential nominee, seems to me now of more than pass-
ing significance:
While resident here. Captain Hancock took great interest in
our citizens, the development of our resources, and the welfare
of this section of the country; and as a public-spirited, enter-
prising gentleman, he will be missed from among us, and his
most estimable lady will long live in the hearts of her many
friends. We desire their prosperity, happiness, and long life,
wherever their lot may be cast.
The establishing of Drum Barracks and Camp Drum at
Wilmington was a great contribution to the making of that
town, for the Government not only spent over a million dollars
in buildings and works there, and constantly drew on the town
for at least part of its supplies, but provisions of all kinds were
sent through Wilmington to troops in Southern California,
Utah, Yuma, Tucson and vicinity, and New Mexico.
P. H., popularly known as Major Downing, was em-
ployed by Banning for some time during the War to take
charge of the great wagon-trains of Government supplies sent
inland; and later he opened a general merchandise store in
Wilmington, after which he transacted a large volume of
business with H. Newmark & Company.
At the breaking out of the War, the Southern Overland Mail
Route was discontinued and a contract was made with Butter-
302 Sixty Years in Southern California [1861
field for service along a more central course, by way of Great
Salt Lake. There was then a stage six times a week; and a
branch line ran to Denver, the terminus having been changed
from St. Joseph to Omaha. Twenty days was the time allowed
the company to get its stages through during eight months of
the year, and twenty-three days for the more uncertain winter
months. This contract was made for three years, and one
million dollars a year was the compensation allowed the Butter-
fields. After the War, the old route was resumed.
J. De Earth Shorb came to Los Angeles at the commence-
ment of the War, as Assistant Superintendent of the Phila-
delphia & California Oil Company; and in 1867 he bought the
Temescal grant and began to mine upon the property. The
same year he married a daughter of B. D. Wilson, establishing a
relationship which brought him a partnership in the San Gabriel
Wine Company, of which he eventually became manager.
His position in this community, until he died in 1895, was
important, the Httle town of Shorb testifying to one of his
activities.
Not only were the followers of the indefatigable padres
rather tardy in taking up the cultivation of olives, but the
olive-oil industry hereabouts was a still later venture. As an
illustration,* even in 1861 somewhat less than five htmdred
gallons of olive oil was made in all Los Angeles County, and
most of that was produced at the San Fernando Mission.
How important was the office of the Zanjero, may be gath-
ered from the fact that in 1861 he was paid twelve hundred
dollars a year, while the Mayor received only eight hundred dol-
lars and the Treasiu-er two hundred dollars less than the Mayor.
At the same time, the Marshal, owing to the hazardous duties
of his office, received as much as the Mayor; the City Attorney
one hundred dollars less than the Treasvuer ; and the Clerk but
three himdred and fifty.
By 1 86 1, there were serious doubts as to the future of
cattle-raising in Southern California, but Banning & Company
came forward proposing to slaughter at New San Pedro and
contracted with John Temple, John Rains and others, to do
i86i] Hancock — Lady Franklin— The Deluge 303
their killing. For a while, the enterprise was encouraged;
Temple alone having six hundred head so disposed of and sold.
In September, Columbus Sims, the popular attorney of
unique personality who from 1856 to i860 had been Clerk of
the United States District Court, was appointed Lieutenant-
Colonel in the United States Army and placed in charge of
Camp Alert, at the Pioneer Race Course, San Francisco, where
twelve companies were soon assembled; and a month or two
later he was made Colonel in the Second Cavalry. Late in
December of that year, however, he had an altercation with
D. D. Colton, in San Francisco, when blows were exchanged
and Sims drew "a deadly weapon." For this, the doughty
Colonel was arrested and held to await the action of the Grand
Jury ; but I am under the impression that nothing very serious
befell the belligerent Sims as a result.
On September nth, H. Stassforth, after having bought out
A. W. Schulze, announced a change in the control of the
United States Hotel, inviting the public, at the same time, to a
"free lunch," at half -past four o'clock the following Sunday.
Stassforth was an odd, but interesting character, and stated in
his advertisement that guests were at liberty, when they had
partaken of the collation, to judge if he could "keep a hotel."
Whether successful or otherwise, Stassforth did not long con-
tinue in control, for in November, 1862, he disposed of the busi-
ness to Webber & Haas, who in turn sold it to Louis Mesmer.
In the fall, an atrocious murder took place here, proving
but the first in a series of vile deeds for which, eventually, the
culprit paid with his own life at the hands of an infuriated popu-
lace. On Simday evening, September 30th, some Frenchmen
were assembled to sit up with the body of one of their recently-
deceased countrymen; and at about eleven o'clock a quarrel
arose between two of the watchers, A. M. G., or Michel Lache-
nais — a man once of good repute, who had cast some slurs
at the French Benevolent Society — and Henry Delaval, a re-
spected employee of the Aliso Mills who spiritedly defended the
organization. Lachenais drew a weapon, approached Delaval
and tried to shoot him ; but the pistol missed fire. Thereupon
304 Sixty Years in Southern California [1861
Lachenais, enraged, walked toward a lamp, adjusted two other
caps, and deliberately shot Delaval through the body. The
next day his victim died. Lachenais made his escape and
so eluded the authorities that it was not until the middle of
February, 1866, that he surrendered himself to Deputy Sheriff
Henderson. Then he was tried, but was acquitted.
About October, Remi Nadeau, a Canadian, after whom
Nadeau Street is named and father of George A. Nadeau, came
across the Plains to Los Angeles, having spent the previous
winter, en route, in Salt Lake City ; and for a while he teamed
between here and Montana. Within the year, believing that
San Francisco offered a larger field, he moved to that city
and continued his operations there.
In the front part of a little building on Main Street, between
Second and Third, Lorenzo Leek, whom I have already men-
tioned, conducted a grocery, living with his family in the rear.
He was a plain, unassuming, honest Dane of the old school,
who attended scrupulously to his business and devoted his
Sundays and holidays to modest amusements. On such days,
he would put his wife, Caroline, and their children on a little
wagon that he owned and take them to his vineyard on the
outskirts of the town; and there he would enjoy with them
those rural pastimes to which he had been accustomed in the
Fatherland, and which to many early-comers here were a source
of rest and delight.
On the afternoon of Saturday, October 17th, Francisco
Cota, a Mexican boy fifteen years of age, entered Leek's store
while he was out, and, taking advantage of the fact that Frau
Leek was alone, whipped out a knife, stabbed her to death, stole
what cash was in sight and then escaped to a vineyard, where
he hid himself. John W. Henderson, the son of A. J. Hender-
son, a Deputy Sheriff here still living in Los Angeles, came in
soon after and finding Mrs. Leek horribly disfigured, he gave
the alarm. Neighbors and friends at once started in ptu"suit
and caught Cota ; and having tied a rope around the murderer's
neck during the excitement they dragged him down to Alameda
Street, where I witnessed the uproar. As they proceeded by
i86i] Hancock — Lady Franklin — The Deluge 305
way of Aliso Street, the mob became more and more in-
furiated, so that before it reached the spot which had been
selected for his execution, the boy had been repeatedly stabbed
and was nearly dead. At length, he was strung up as a warning
to other malefactors.
A short time after this melancholy event, I was driving with
my wife to the Cerritos rancho and, missing our road, we
stopped at a Mexican home to inquire the way. The woman
who answered our summons proved to be one who knew, and
was known by all Los Angeles merchants on account of her
frequent excursions to town; she was, in fact, the mother
of the Mexican boy who had been mobbed and hung for the
murder of poor Leek's wife! The sight of Gringos kindled
anew her maternal wrath ; and she set up such a hue and cry
as to preclude any further intelligible conversation.
California being so far removed from the seat of war did
not awake to its full significance until the credit of the Govern-
ment began to decline. Four weeks were required, it is well
to remember, to complete the trip from New York to San
Francisco via Panama, and our knowledge of events in the
East was far from perfect. Until the completion of the con-
tinental telegraph in October, 1861, the only immediate news
that reached the Coast came privately and we were, therefore,
pretty much in the dark until the arrival of Eastern papers,
and even after that telegraphing was so expensive that our
poorly-patronized little news-sheets could not afford the out-
lay. A few of us therefore made up a purse of one hundred
dollars a month, which small sum enabled us to allay our
anxiety at least in the case of very important happenings.
It must not be forgotten, though, that we then had a little
relief from San Francisco, whose newspapers, containing some
telegraphic despatches, arrived in town perhaps three to four
days after their publication. I may add, in fact, that it was
not until about the beginning of the eighties that Los Angeles
dailies could afford the luxury of regular direct telegrams.
In other respects as well, editing a local newspaper during
the War was apt to entail financial loss. The Los Angeles
3o6 Sixty Years in Southern California [1861
News, for instance, was outspoken for the Union and so escaped
the temporary eclipse suffered by the Star through Government
censorship; but the Unionists being in a decided minority in
the community, pickings for the News were mighty poor.
Perhaps this want of patronage suggested the advisabihty, in
1863 (when that paper was published by C. R. Conway and
Alonzo Waite, on Main Street, opposite the express office),
of reducing the subscription rate to five dollars a year.
Probably one of the most interesting visits to Los Angeles
ever made by a well-known personage was the sudden call
with which Lady Franklin, the wife of the eminent, lost
Arctic explorer, honored our little town far back in 1861. The
distinguished lady, accompanied by Mrs. Cracroft, her niece,
Commodore and Madame Watkins and Collector and Mrs.
Rankin, arrived at San Pedro on the Golden State during the first
week in November and was driven, with her companions, to the
Bella Union hotel, from which she made such short excursions
about the city as were then possible; and as sympathy for her
in her sorrow, and admiration for her long years of plucky
though vain search for her husband were still general, every
courtesy possible was afforded her. During Lady Franklin's
stay Benjamin D. Wilson arranged a delightful garden party
at his hospitable mansion at Lake Vineyard in her ladyship's
honor, and Phineas Banning also entertained her with a re-
ception and collation at his San Pedro home ; and these recep-
tions and collations were as enjoyable as they were notable.
After a day or two, Lady Franklin and her party left on the
Senator for San Francisco, being accorded, as the vessel
weighed anchor, a marked ovation.
For many years funerals were attended by men on horseback
and by women on foot, as hacks were unknown in early days;
and while the good citizens were doubtless then conducted to
their last resting-place in a manner just as satisfactory to them-
selves as are their descendants who are btuied according to
present-day customs, those who followed in the train were very
seriously inconvenienced by the melancholy, dusty processions
to the old and now-forgotten burial-grounds ; for in those days
i86i] Hancock — Lady Franklin — The Deluge 307
the trip, in summer exceedingly hot and in winter through rain
and mud, was a long, fatiguing one.
Speaking of funerals, a strange sight was witnessed in
our streets about the end of November, 1861, attending the
burial of a child. The father and mother, both native CaHfor-
nians, were seated in a wagon, in which was also placed the
strikingly plain little coffin or box containing the dead. Be-
side the wagon walked an old man, playing a fiddle. Two or
three persons followed in the deep mud; the whole forming
a weird picture, said to be the relic of an almost obsolete
back-woods custom.
Banning & Hinchman's Comet proving insufficient, the
Gondolier was put on in the fall of 1861 and became a familiar
craft in the conveying of passengers and freight between New
San Pedro and the ships lying off the harbor.
Two years previous to the completion of the telegraph from
San Francisco to Los Angeles — that is, in 1858 — the first
continental telegraph was undertaken; and by October, 1861,
Governor Downey of California sent a congratulatory message
to President Lincoln. On November 7 th, the line was open to the
public. Several months before, all the companies in the State
had consolidated into the California State Telegraph Company.
Banning & Hinchman having succeeded, for a short season,
Phineas Banning, the sub-contractor for the building of the
first telegraph, they made an effort, following the establishment
of communication between the Atlantic and the Pacific, to
secure a line to New San Pedro; and at the end of October, 1861,
the first telegraph pole in the long row from Los Angeles to the
harbor was formally set. About the middle of November, this
line was completed; and though it was widely proclaimed as
"working like a charm," the apparatus soon got out of order
and by the following January there were many complaints
that both poles and wire had fallen to the ground, blocking the
thoroughfares and entangling animals in such a way as to
become a nuisance. Indeed, there was soon a public demand
either to repair the telegraph or to remove it altogether and
throw the equipment away. Soon after the first of February,
3o8 Sixty Years in Southern California [i86r
1862, the line was working again; but by that time the telegraph
to San Francisco had gotten out of order! And so great were
the difficulties in repairing that line, that Los Angeles was not
again talking uninterruptedly over the wire with its neighbor
until July.
On November 15th, the first number of El Amigo del
Pueblo, printed in Spanish, appeared from the shop of Jose
E. Gonzales & Company; but native support being withheld,
"The Friend of the People" starved to death in the following
May.
Whaling, like shark-hunting, continued brisk in 1861 and
1862, and many vessels were fitted out at San Pedro; Los
Angeles merchants selling them most of their supplies. The
sea-monsters usually moved up the coast about the first of the
year, the males keeping in toward the shore going up, and
the females hugging the coast, coming down ; and small boats
such as Captain W. Clark's Ocean, used to take from four
hundred and fifty to five hundred barrels of oil in five or six
weeks. For six days, in March, 1862, San Pedro whalers
harpooned a whale a day, bringing to the landing over two
hundred barrels of oil as a result of the week's labor.
The bitter fight between Abolitionists and Southern sym-
pathizers was immediately reflected in the public schools.
Defenders of the Union worked for a formal oath of allegiance
to the National Government, as a preliminary to granting
teachers' certificates; while the Confederates, incensed at what
they deemed a violation of personal rights, assailed the institu-
tions. The result was that attendance at the public schools
gradually fell off until, in the winter of 1865-66, only about three
hundred and fifty children of school age were being instructed
by public teachers ; another third of a thousand was in private
schools, while some three hundred and sixty-nine were not on
any roster.
The gloom naturally caused by the outbreak of war was
sometimes penetrated by the brightness of social life, and
among the happier occasions of the winter of 1861 was the
marriage, on December 23d, in the presence of a large circle
i86i] Hancock — Lady Franklin — The Deluge 309
of friends, of Tom D. Mott to Ascencion, daughter of Don Jos6
Andres and Dona Francisca Abila Sepulveda.
The winter of 1861-62 recorded the greatest of all floods,
especially in the North where, in December and January, some-
thing like thirty-five inches of rain was precipitated. In Los
Angeles County the rivers soon rose and overflowed the low-
lands ; but the rise was gradual, causing the loss of but few or no
lives and permitting the stock to reach the neighboring hills
in safety. In Anaheim the water was four feet deep in the
streets and people had to seek flight to the uplands or retreat
to the roofs of their little houses. Vineyards were sometimes
half -ruined with the layers of deep sand ; banks of streams were
lined for miles with driftwood ; and ranchers saw many a clod of
their farms carried off and deposited to enrich their neighbors,
miles away. For a month it rained so steadily that the sun
peeped out for scarcely an hour.
I witnessed this inundation in Los Angeles, where much
damage was done to business buildings, especially to Mellus's
Row, and saw merchants in water up to their waists, trying
to save their goods. The wall of the room occupied by Sam
Meyer fell first, whereupon Hellman & Brother became in-
tensely interested in the removal of their stock, while poor Sam,
knee-deep in water, sadly contemplated his losses. Before the
Hellmans had made much headway, they observed a tendency
on the part of their walls to crumble, and their exit was neither
graceful nor delayed. After that the store occupied by Meyer
& Breslauer caved in, smashing show cases and shelves, and
ruining a large amount of merchandise. The ludicrous picture
of this rush for "safety first " is not a fit reflection of the feelings
of those pioneers who saw the results of years of labor obliterated
in a moment. Friends and neighbors lent assistance to the
unfortunate, and helped to save what they could. After this
flood, Hellman & Brother and Sam Meyer removed to the
Arcadia Block, while Meyer & Breslauer secured accommoda-
tions north of the Plaza Church.
CHAPTER XXII
DROUGHTS — THE ADA HANCOCK DISASTER
I 862-1 863
ON the first of January, 1862, after an experience of
about five years, I retired from the selHng of clothing,
which was never congenial to me ; and as I had been
buying hides and wool on a small scale since the middle of the
fifties, I forthwith devoted myself to the commission business.
Frenchmen from the Basque country, among whom were Mi-
guel Leonis, Gaston Oxarart, Domingo Amestoy and Domingo
Bastanchury, had commenced to appear here in 1858 and
to raise sheep; so that in 1859 large flocks were brought into
Southern California, the sheep commanding a price of three
dollars and a half per head. My own operations, exceedingly
small in the beginning, increased in importance, and by 1862
I was fairly equipped for this venture. Corn, barley and
wheat were also then being raised, and I busied myself with
these commodities as well.
Most of the early sheepmen prospered and in time bought
large tracts of land for their flocks, and with all of them \I
had dealings of more or less importance. Amestoy's career is
worthy of particular mention as exemplifying the three cardinal
virtues of business: honesty, application and frugality. He
and his wife took in washing; and whUe the husband went
from house to house, leading a horse with a large basket
strapped to either side, to collect and deliver the clothes, the
wife toiled at the tub. In the end, what they together had
310
Eugene Meyer
Jacob A. Moerenhout
Frank Lecouvreux
Thomas D. Mott
■ J^''^^" \
Leonard J. Rose
H. K. S. O'Melveny
"M
Rami Nadeau
John M. Griffith
[1862-1863] Droughts — Ada Hancock Disaster 311
saved became the foundation of their important investments
in sheep and land. Pedro Larronde, another early sheepman,
married the widow of his Basque fellow-countryman, Etche-
mendy, the tippling baker.
Having regularly established a commission business, I
brought consignments of varied merchandise from San Fran-
cisco on the semi-monthly steamer Goliah, whose Captain at
one time was Robert Haley, and at another his brother
Salisbury Haley, a brother-in-law of Tom Mott ; and I disposed
of them to small dealers with whom I thus became pretty well
acquainted. These consignments were sold almost as soon
as they arrived. I was careful to bring in only staple articles
in the grocery line, and it was long before I appreciated the
advantage of carrying sufficient stock to supply a regular
demand. On the return trips of the steamer to San Francisco
I forwarded such produce as I had accumulated.
I do not recall any important changes in 1862, the declin-
ing months of which saw the beginning of the two years'
devastating drought. The Civil War was in progress, but we
were so far from the scene of strife that we were not materially
affected. Sympathy was very general here for the Confederate
cause, and the Government therefore retained in Wilmington
both troops and clerks who were paid in a badly-depreciated
currency, which they were obliged to discount at exorbitant
rates, to get money at all; while other employees had to accept
vouchers which were subject to a still greater discount. Not-
withstanding these difficulties, however, pay-day increased the
resources of the pueblo considerably.
Hellman & Brother, a partnership consisting of I. M. and
Samuel Hellman, dissolved, on January 2d, I. M. continuing
in the dry goods business while Sam took the books and sta-
tionery. Another brother and associate, H. M. HeUman, a
couple of years before had returned to Europe, where he died.
If my memory is accurate, I. W. remained with I. M. Hellman
until the former, in 1865, bought out A. Portugal. Samuel A.
Widney, who later had a curio store, was for a while with Sam
Hellman in a partnership known as Hellman & Widney.
312 Sixty Years in Southern California [1862-
On January 17th, Don Louis Vignes passed away in Los
Angeles, at the age of ninety-one years.
January also witnessed one of those typical scenes, in the
fitting out of a mule- and wagon-train, never likely to be seen
in Los Angeles again. Two hundred wagons and twelve
hundred mules, mostly brought from San Francisco on
steamers, were assembled for a trip across the desert to convey
Government stores.
M. J. Newmark became a partner, on February ist, in the
firm of Howard, Butterworth & Newmark, Federal and State
Attorneys with offices in the Temple Building, Los Angeles,
and Armory Hall, San Francisco; and it was considered at the
time a rapid advance for a man of but twenty-three years of
age. The Los Angeles Star of that date, in fact, added a word
of good fellowship : ' ' We congratulate friend Newmark on the
association."
The intimate relations characteristic of a small community
such as ours, and the much more general effect then than nowa-
days of any tragical occurrence have already been described.
Deep sympathy was therefore awakened, early in February, on
the arrival of the steamer Senator and the rapid dissemination
of the report that Dr. Thomas Foster, the ex-Mayor, had been
lost overboard, on January 29th, on the boat's trip northward.
Just what happened to Foster will never be known; in San
Francisco it was reported that he had thrown himself into the
sea, though others who knew him well looked upon the cause of
his death as accidental.
But slight attention was paid to the report, brought in by
horsemen from San Bernardino on February 4th, that an earth-
quake had occurred there in the morning, until Captain Tom
Seeley returned with the Senator to San Pedro and told about
a seismic disturbance at sea, during which he struck the wildest
storm off Point Concepcion, in all his sea-faring experience.
Sailors were then better all-round seamen than now; yet
there was greater superstition in Jack Tar's mind, and such
a storm made a deep impression upon his imagination.
I have alluded to the dependence of Los Angeles on the
1863] Droughts — Ada Hancock Disaster 313
outside world, no better evidence of which, perhaps, can be
cited than that on the twenty-second of February George W.
Chapin & Company of San Francisco advertised here to fiu--
nish servants and other help to anyone in the Southland.
About the same time, San Bernardino parties, wishing to bore
a little artesian well, had to send to the Northern metropolis for
the necessary machinery.
In October, i860, as I have intimated, Phineas Banning took
A. F. Hinchman into partnership, the firm being known as
Banning & Hinchman, and they seemed to prosper; but on
February 12th, 1862, the public was surprised at the announce-
ment of the firm's dissolution. Banning continued as pro-
prietor, and Hinchman became Banning's Los Angeles agent.
Although cattle-raising was the mainstay of Southern
California for many years, and gold-mining never played a
very important part here. Wells Fargo & Co., during the
spring, frequently shipped thousands of dollars' worth of gold
at a time, gathered from Santa Anita, San Gabriel and San
Fernando placers, while probably an equally large amount was
forwarded out through other channels.
I have already pointed to the clever foresight shown by Abel
Stearns when he built the Arcadia Block and profited by the
unhappy experience of others, with rain that flooded their
property; but I have not stated that in elevating his new
building considerably above the grade of the street, somewhat
regardless of the rights of others, he caused the surplus water
to run ofE into neighboring streets and buildings. Following
the great storm of 1861-62, the City sued Stearns for damages,
but he won his case. More than that, the overflow was a God-
send to him, for it induced a number of people to move from
Mellus's Row to Arcadia Block at a time when the owner of vast
ranches and some of the best town property was already feeling
the pinch of the alternate dry and over-wet seasons. The fact
is, as I shall soon make clear, that before Stearns had seen the
end of two or three successive dry seasons yet to come, he was
temporarily bankrupt and embarrassed to the utmost.
By April, the walls and roof for the little Protestant Church
314 Sixty Years in Southern California [1862-
at Temple and New High streets had been built, and there the
matter rested for two years, when the structtire, on which the
taxes were unpaid, was advertised for sale.
We have seen that the first Jewish services here were held
soon after the arrival of Joseph Newmark in 1854; under
the same disadvantageous conditions as had hampered the
Protestant denominations, Mr. Newmark volunteered to offici-
ate on the principal holidays until 1862, when the Reverend
Abraham Wolf Edelman arrived. Born at Warsaw in 1832,
Rabbi Edelman came to America in 1851, immediately after he
was married to Miss Hannah Pessah Cohn, and settled suc-
cessively in New York, Paterson and Buffalo. Coming to
California in 1859, he resided in San Francisco until 1862, when
he was chosen Rabbi of the orthodox Congregation B'nai B'rith
of Los Angeles, and soon attained distinction as a Talmudic
scholar and a preacher. The first services under Rabbi Edel-
man were held in Stearns's, or Arcadia Hall; next, the Congrega-
tion worshipped in Leek's Hall on Main Street between Second
and Third ; and finally, through the courtesy of Judge Ygnacio
Sepiilveda, the court room was used. In 1873 the Jews of
Los Angeles erected their first synagogue, a brick building
entered by a steep stairway leading to a platform, and located
on the east side of Fort Street between Second and Third, on
what is now the site of the Copp Building next to the City
Hall. In 1886, when local Jewry instituted a much more
liberal ritual. Rabbi Edelman's convictions induced him to re-
sign. The purchase of a lot for a home on the corner of Sixth
and Main streets proved a fortunate investment, later enabling
him to enjoy a well-deserved comfort and to gratify his chari-
table inclinations. It is a strange coincidence that Reverend
Edelman's first marriage ceremony was that which blessed
Samuel Prager; while the last occasion on which he performed
the solemn rites for the dead — shortly before his own death in
1907 — was for the same friend. A. M. Edelman, the architect,
and Dr. D. W. Edelman, both well-known here, are sons of
the Rabbi.
As late in the season as April, hail and snow fell in and near
1863] Droughts — Ada Hancock Disaster 315
Los Angeles. To the North of the city, the white mantle quite
hid the mountains and formed a new and lower snow-line;
while within the city, the temperature so lowered that at several
intervals during the day, huge hail-stones beat against the
window-panes — a very unusual experience for Angelenos.
Because of political charges preferred against A. J. King,
then Under Sheriff of the County, the latter, on April loth, was
arrested by Henry D. Barrows, United States Marshal, who
had been appointed by President Lincoln, the year previous.
Colonel Carleton, Commander of the Southern Military Di-
vision, however, soon liberated King. On the last day of the
year, the Under Sheriff married the estimable Miss Laura C.
Evertsen.
Travelers to Europe have often suffered much annoyance
through safe-conduct regulations, but seldom have Americans
had their liberty thus restricted by their own authorities.
Toward the middle of June, word was received in Los Angeles
that, owing to the suspicion lest disloyalists were embarking
for Aspinwall, all passengers for California via the Isthmus
would be required to take out passports.
Anticipating, by forty years or more, Luther Burbank's
work, attention was directed, as early as 1862, to the possibility
of eating the cactus and thus finding, in this half-despised plant
of the desert, relief from both hunger and thirst. Half a
century later, in 1913, Los Angeles established the cactus candy
industry through which the boiled pulp of the bisnaga, often
spoken of as the fishhook, barrel and nigger-head variety, is
made deliciously palatable when siruped from ten to thirty
days.
Ygnacio Sepulveda, declared by the Los Angeles Star "a
young gentleman of liberal education, and good, natural endow-
ments, already versed in legal studies," on September 6th
was admitted to the District Court Bar.
On January i8th, i860, the first number of the Semi-Weekly
Southern News appeared, containing advertisements in both
English and Spanish. It was issued by C. R. Conway and
Alonzo Waite, who charged twenty-five cents a copy, or seven
3i6 Sixty Years in Southern California [1863-
dollars a year. On October 8th, 1862, the title was changed
to the Los Angeles Semi-Weekly News.
In i860, the Bella Union, as I have said, was under the
management of John King, who came here in 1856; while in
1861 J. B. Winston & Company, who were represented by
Henry Reed, controlled the hotel. In 1862 or 1863, John King
and Henry Hammel were the managers.
I have told of the purchase of the San Pasqual rancho by
Dr. J. S. Griffin. On December nth. Dr. and Mrs. Griffin
for five hundred dollars sold to B. D. Wilson and wife some
six hundred and forty acres of that property; and a few hours
afterward the Wilsons disposed of two hundred and sixty-two
acres for one thousand dollars. The purchaser was Mrs.
Eliza G. Johnston, wife of General Albert Sidney Johnston.
Mrs. Johnston at once built a neat residence on the tract and
called it Fair Oaks, after the plantation in Virginia on which
she had been born ; and from this circumstance the name of the
now well-known Fair Oaks Avenue in Pasadena is derived. At
the time of her purchase Mrs. Johnston had hoped to reside
there permanently; but the tragic fate of her son in the Ada
Hancock disaster, following the untimely death of her husband
at Shiloh, and the apparent uselessness of the land, led her to
sell to Judge B. S. Eaton what to-day would be worth far more
than thousands of acres in many parts of the Southern States.
A curious coincidence in the relations of General Sumner,
who superseded General Johnston, to the hero of Shiloh is
that, later in the War, Sumner led a corps of Union troops at
Fair Oaks, Virginia!
Don Ygnacio Coronel, father of Antonio Franco Coronel,
and the early school patron to whom I have referred, died in
Los Angeles on December 19th, aged seventy years. He had
come to California in 1834, and had long been eminent in po-
litical councils and social circles. I recall him as a man of
strong intellect and sterling character, kind-hearted and
popular.
Another effort, without success, to use camels for trans-
portation over the California and adjacent sands, was made in
i863i Droughts— ^(/<3: Hancock Disaster 317
January, 1863, when a camel express was sent out from New
San Pedro to Tucson.
Elsewhere I have indicated the condition of the public
cemetery. While an adobe wall enclosed the Roman Catholic
burial-place, and a brick wall surrounded the Jewish resting-
place for the dead, nothing was done until 1863 to improve the
Protestant cemetery, although desecration went so far that
the little railing around the grave of poor Mrs. Leek, the grocer's
wife who had been murdered, was torn down and burned.
Finally, the matter cried to Heaven so audibly that in Janu-
ary Los Angeles Masons appropriated one hundred and fifty
dollars, to be added to some five hundred dollars raised by popu-
lar subscription; and the Common Council having appointed a
committee to supervise the work, William H. Perry put up
the fence, making no charge for his services.
About the middle of January word was received in Los
Angeles of the death, at Baltimore, of Colonel B. L. Beall,
commander for years of the Fort Tejon garrison, and active in
the Mojave and Kern River campaigns.
Death entered our home for the first time, when an infant
daughter, less than a month old, died this year on February
14th.
In February, the editor of the News advised the experi-
ment of growing cotton as an additional activity for the Colorado
Indians, who were already cultivating corn, beans and melons.
Whether this suggestion led William Workman into cotton
culture, I do not know; at any rate, late in November of the
same year F. P. F. Temple was exhibiting about town some
well-matured bolls of cotton raised on Workman's ranch, and
the next spring saw in El Monte a number of fields planted
with cotton seed. A year later, J. Moerenhout sent Los Angeles
cotton to an exhibition in France, and received from across
the water official assurance that the French judges regarded our
product as quite equal to that grown in the Southern States.
This gave a slight impetus to cotton-culture here and by
January, 1865, a number of immigrants had arrived, looking
for suitable land for the production of this staple. They soon
31 8 Sixty Years in Southern California [1862-
went to work, and in August of that year many fields gave
promise of good crops, far exceeding the expectations of the
experimenters.
In the month of March a lively agitation on behalf of a
railroad began in the public press, and some bitter things
were said against those who, for the sake of a little trade in
horses or draying, were opposed to such a forward step; and
under the leadership of E. J. C. Kewen and J. A. Watson, our
Assemblymen at that session, the Legislature of 1863 passed an
act authorizing the construction of the Los Angeles & San
Pedro Railroad. A public meeting was called to discuss the
details and to further the project; but once more no railroad
was built or even begun. Strange as it seems, the idea of a
railroad for Los Angeles County in 1863 was much too advanced
for the times.
Billed as one who had "had the honor of appearing before
King William IV. and all the principal crowned heads of
Europe," Professor Courtier held forth with an exhibition of
magic in the Temple Theatre; drawing the usual crowd of —
royalty-haters !
In 1863, Santa Catalina was the scene of a gold-mining
boom which soon came to naught, and through an odd enough
occurrence. About April, Martin M. Kimberly and Daniel
E. Way staked out a claim or two, and some miners agreed on
a code of laws for operations in what was to be known as the
San Pedro Mining District, the boundaries of which were
to include all the islands of the County. Extensive claims,
chiefly in Cherry and Joly valleys and on Mineral Hill, were
recorded, and streets were laid out for a town to be known
as Queen City; but just as the boom seemed likely to mature,
the National Government stepped in and gave a quietus to
the whole affair. With or without foundation, reports had
reached the Federal authorities that the movement was but
a cloak to establish there well-fortified Confederate headquar-
ters for the fitting out and repair of privateers intended to prey
upon the coast- wise traders; and on February 5th, 1864, Cap-
tain B. R. West, commanding the Fotu-th California Infantry,
1863] Droughts — Ada Hancock Disaster 319
ordered practically all of the miners and prospectors to leave
the island at once. The following September the National
troops were withdrawn, and after the War the Federal author-
ities retained control of a point on the island deemed service-
able for lighthouse purposes.
In the spring of 1863, feeling ill, I went to San Fran-
cisco to consult Dr. Toland, who assured me that there was
nothing serious the matter with me; but wishing to sat-
isfy myself more thoroughly, I resorted to the same means
that I dare say many others have adopted^ — a medical ex-
amination for life insurance! Bernhard Gattel, general agent
of the Germania Life Insurance Company, at 315 Mont-
gomery Street, wrote out my application ; and on March 20th,
a policy, numbered 1472, was issued, making me, since the fall
of 1913, the oldest living policy-holder in the Southwest, and
the twentieth oldest of the Germania's patrons in the world.
Californians, during that period of the War when the North
was suffering a series of defeats, had little use for greenbacks.
At one time, a dollar in currency was worth but thirty-five
cents, though early in April it was accepted at sixty-five,
late in August at ninety, and about the first of October at
seventy-five cents ; even interest-bearing gold notes being worth
no more. This condition of the money market saw little change
until some time in the seventies ; and throughout the War green-
backs were handled like any other commodity. Frank Lecou-
vreur, in one of these periods, after getting judgment in a suit
against Deputy Siu-veyor William Moore, for civil engineering
services, and being paid some three hundred and eighty-three
dollars in greenbacks, was disconcerted enough when he found
that his currency would command but one hundred and eighty
dollars in gold. San Francisco merchants realized fortunes
when a decline occurred, as they bought their merchandise in
the East for greenbacks and sold it on the Coast for gold. Los
Angeles people, on the other hand, enjoyed no such benefit, as
they brought their wares from San Francisco and were there-
fore obliged to liquidate in specie.
Among the worst tragedies in the early annals of Los Angeles,
320 Sixty Years in Southern California [1862-
and by far the most dramatic, was the disaster on April 27th
to the little steamer Ada Hancock. While on a second trip,
in the harbor of San Pedro, to transfer to the Senator the
remainder of the passengers bound for the North, the vessel
careened, admitting cold water to the engine-room and explod-
ing the boiler with such force that the boat was demolished
to the water's edge ; fragments being found on an island even
half to three-quarters of a mile away. Such was the intensity of
the blast and the area of the devastation that, of the fifty-three
or more passengers known to have been on board, twenty-six at
least perished. Fortunate indeed were those, including Phineas
Banning, the owner, who survived with minor injuries, after
being hurled many feet into the air. Among the dead were
Thomas W. Seeley, Captain of the Senator; Joseph Bryant,
Captain of the Ada Hancock; Dr. H. R. Myles, the druggist,
who had been in partnership, opposite the Bella Union, with
Dr. J. C. Welch, an arrival of the early fifties who died in
1869; Thomas H. Workman, Banning's chief clerk; Albert
Sidney Johnston, Jr.; William T. B. Sanford, once Post-
master; Louis Schlesinger and William Ritchie, Wells
Fargo's messenger, to whom was entrusted ten thousand dollars,
which, as far as my memory goes, was lost. Two Mormon
missionaries, en route to the Sandwich Islands, were also
killed. Still another, who lost not only his treasure but his
life, was Fred E. Kerlin of Fort Tejon: thirty thousand dol-
lars which he carried with him, in greenbacks, disappeared
as mysteriously as did the jewelry on the persons of others,
and from these circumstances it was concluded that, even
in the presence of Death, these bodies had been speedily
robbed. Mrs. Banning and her mother, Mrs. Sanford, and a
daughter of B. D. Wilson were among the wounded; while Miss
M. Hereford, Mrs. Wilson's sister and the fiancee of Dr. Myles,
was so severely injured that, after long suffering, she also died.
Although the accident had happened about five o'clock in the
afternoon, the awful news, casting a general and indescrib-
able gloom, was not received in town until nearly eight o'clock;
when Drs. Griffin and R. T. Hayes, together with an Army sur-
1863] Droughts— ^(/(a: Hancock Disaster 321
geon named Todd, hastened in carriages to the harbor where
soldiers from Camp Drum had already asserted their authority.
Many of the victims were buried near the beach at New
San Pedro. While I was calling upon Mrs. Johnston to express
my sympathy, the body of her son was brought in; and words
cannot describe the pathos of the scene when she addressed
the departed as if he were but asleep.
In June the Government demanded a formal profession
of loyalty from teachers, when Miss Mary Hoyt and Miss
Eliza Madigan took the oath, but Mrs. Thomas Foster and
William McKee refused to do so. The incident provoked bitter
criticism, and nothing being done to punish the recalcitrants,
the Los Angeles Board of Education was charged with indif-
ference as to the allegiance of its public servants.
During 1863 sectional feeling had grown so bitter on
account of the War that no attempt was made to celebrate
the Fourth of July in town. At Fort Latham, however, on the
Ballona Ranch, the soldiers observed the day with an appropri-
ate demonstration. By the end of July, troops had been sent
from Drum Barracks to camp in the city — for the protection,
so it was asserted, of Union men whose lives were said to be in
danger, although some people claimed that this movement was
rather for the purpose of intimidating certain leaders with
known sympathy for the South. This military display gave
Northerners more backbone; and on the twenty-sixth of
September a Union mass-meeting was held on Main Street in
front of the Lafayette Hotel.
Eldridge Edwards Hewitt, a Mexican War veteran who
came to California in 1849 to search for gold, arrived in Los
Angeles on July 31st and soon went on a wild-goose chase to
the Weaver Diggings in Arizona, actually tramping with lug-
gage over five hundred miles of the way ! After his return, he
did odd jobs for his board, working in a stationery and toy
store on Main Street, kept by the Goldwater Brothers, Joe and
Mike, who had arrived in the early sixties; and later he entered
the employ of Phineas Banning at Wilmington, with whom he
remained until the completion of the Los Angeles & San Pedro
322 Sixty Years in Southern California [1862-
Railroad in 1870, when he became its Superintendent. When
the Southern Pacific obtained control of that road in 1873,
Hewitt was made Agent, and after the extension of the Hne
from San Francisco he was appointed Division Superintendent.
In that capacity he brought Senator Leland Stanford to me, as
I shall elsewhere relate, to solicit H. Newmark and Company's
patronage.
It was in 1863 that Dr. J. S. Griffin, father of East Los
Angeles, purchased two thousand acres in that section, at fifty
cents an acre; but even at that price he was only induced to
buy it by necessity. Griffin wanted sheep-pasture, and had
sought to secure some eight hundred acres of City land along the
river; but as this would prevent other cattle or sheep from
approaching the water to drink, the Common Council refused
Griffin's bid on the smaller area of land and he was com-
pelled to buy the mesa farther back. It seems to me that B.
D. Wilson, J. G. Downey and Hancock M. Johnston, General
Johnston's son, also had something to do with this transaction.
Both Downey and Griffin avenues derived their names from
the association of these two gentlemen with that section.
A smallpox epidemic which had started in the previous
fall spread through Los Angeles in 1863, and owing possibly
to the bad sanitary and climatic conditions much vigilance
and time were required to eradicate it ; compulsory vaccination
not having been introduced (as it finally was at the suggestion
of Dr. Walter Lindley) until the summer of 1876. The dread
disease worked its ravages especially among the Mexicans and
Indians, as many as a dozen of them dying in a single day ; and
these siifferers and their associates being under no quarantine,
and even bathing ad libitum in the zanjas, the pest spread alarm-
ingly. For a time fatalities were so frequent and the nature of
the contagion so feared that it was difficult to persuade under-
takers to bury the dead, even without funeral or other ceremony.
Following the opening of the Owens River Mines this year,
Los Angeles merchants soon established a considerable trade
with that territory. Banning inaugurated a system of wagon-
trains, each guarded by a detachment of soldiers. The San
1863] Droughts— Ada Hancock Disaster 323
Fernando mountains, impassable for heavy teaming, were
an obstacle to regular trade with the new country and com-
pelled the use of a circuitous route over poor roads. It became
necessary, therefore, to consider a means of overcoming the
difficulty, much money having already been spent by the
County in an abortive attempt to build a tunnel. This second
plan likewise came to naught, and it was in fact more than
a decade before the Southern Pacific finally completed the
famous bore.
Largely because of political mistakes, including a mani-
festation of sympathy for the Southern Confederacy that drew
against him Northern resentment and opposition, John G.
Downey, the Democratic nominee for Governor, was defeated
at the election in September; Frederick F. Low, a Republican,
receiving a majority of over twenty thousand votes.
In October, a peddler named Brun was murdered near
Chino. Brun's brother, living at San Bernardino and sub-
sequently a merchant of prominence there, offered two hundred
dollars of his slender savings as a reward for the capture of
the slayer; but nothing ever came of the search.
In November the stern necessities of war were at last driven
home to Angelenos when, on the ninth of that somber month,
Don Juan Warner, Deputy Provost Marshal, appeared with his
big blank books and began to superintend the registering of all
able-bodied citizens suitable for military service. To many,
the inquisition was not very welcome and, had it not been
for the Union soldiers encamped at Drum Barracks, this first
step toward compulsory enrollment would undoubtedly have
resulted in riotous disturbances.
I have frequently named Tom Mott, but I may not have
said that he was one of the representative local Democratic
politicians of his day. He possessed, indeed, such influence
with all classes that he was not only elected Clerk of Los Angeles
County in 1863, but succeeded himself in 1865, 1867 and 1869,
afterward sitting in the State Assembly; and in 1876, he was
appointed a delegate to the National Convention that nomi-
nated Samuel J. Tilden for the Presidency. His relations in
324 Sixty Years in Southern California [1862-
time with Stanford, Crocker, Huntington and Hopkins were
very close, and for at least twenty-five years he acted as their
political adviser in all matters appertaining to Southern Cali-
fornia. Tall, erect and dignified, scrupulously attired and
distinguished by his flowing beard, Tom was for more than half
a century a striking figure in Los Angeles.
A most brutal murder took place on November 15th on
the desert not far from Los Angeles, but few days passing before
it was avenged. A poor miner, named R. A. Hester, was
fatally attacked by a border ruffian known as Boston Daim-
wood, while some confederates, including the criminals Chase,
Ybarra and Olivas, stood by to prevent interference. In a
few hours officers and citizens were in the saddle in pursuit of
the murderous band; for Daimwood had boasted 'that Hester
was but the first of several of our citizens to whom he intended
to pay his respects. Daimwood and his three companions
were captured and lodged in jail, and on the twenty-first of
November two hundred or more armed Vigilantes forced the
jail doors, seized the scoundrels and hung them to the portico
of the old City Hall on Spring Street. Tomas Sanchez, the
Sheriff, talked of organizing a posse comitatus to arrest the
committee leaders; but so positive was public sentiment, as
reflected in the newspapers, in support of the summary execu-
tions, that nothing further was heard of the threat.
An incident of value in the study of mob-psychology
accentuated the day's events. During the lynching, the clatter-
ing of horses' hoofs was heard, when the cry was raised that
cavalry from Drum Barracks was rushing to rescue the pris-
oners; and in a twinkling those but a moment before most
demonstrative were seen scurrying to cover in all directions.
Instead, however, of Federal soldiers, the horsemen were the
usual contingent of El Monte boys, coming to assist in the
neck- tie party.
Besides the murderers lynched, there was an American boy
named Wood of about eighteen years ; and although he had com-
mitted no offense more vicious than the theft of some chickens,
he paid the penalty with his life, it having been the verdict of
1863] Droughts — Ada Hancock Disaster 325
the committee that while they were at it, the jail might as well
be cleared of every malefactor. A large empty case was secured
as a platform on which the victim was to stand; and I shall
never forget the spectacle of the youth, apparently oblivious
of his impending doom, as he placed his hands upon the box
and vaulted lightly to the top (just as he might have done at an
innocent gymnastic contest), and his parting salutation, "I'm
going to die a game hen-chicken T' The removal of the case a
moment later, after the noose had been thrown over and drawn
about the lad's head, left the poor victim suspended beyond
human aid.
On that same day, a sixth prisoner barely escaped. When
the crowd was debating the lynchings, John P. Lee, a resident
of El Monte who had been convicted of murder, was already
under sentence of death; and the Vigilantes, having duly
considered his case, decided that it would be just as well to per-
mit the law to take its course. Some time later, J. Lancaster
Brent, Lee's attorney, appealed the case and obtained for his
client a new trial, finally clearing Lee of the charges against
him, so that, in the end, he died a natural death.
I frequently saw Lee after this episode, and vividly recall
an unpleasant interview years later. The regularity of his
visits had been interrupted, and when he reappeared to get
some merchandise for a customer at El Monte, I asked him
where he had been. He explained that a dog had bitten a
little girl, and that while she was suffering from hydrophobia
she had in turn attacked him and so severely scratched his
hands and face that, for a while, he could not show himself in
public. After that, whenever I saw Lee, I was aware of a lurk-
ing, if ridiculous, suspicion that the moment might have arrived
for a new manifestation of the rabies.
Speaking of the Civil War and the fact that in Southern
California there was less pronounced sentiment for the Union
than in the Northern part of the State, I am reminded of a
relief movement that emphasized the distinction. By the
middle of November San Francisco had sent over one hundred
and thirty thousand dollars to the United States Sanitary
326 Sixty Years in Southern California [1862-
Commission, and an indignant protest was voiced in some
quarters that Los Angeles, up to that date, had not partici-
pated. In time, however, the friends of the Union here did
make up a small purse.
In 1863 interest in the old San Juan Capistrano Mission
was revived with the reopening of the historic structure so
badly damaged by the earthquake of 18 12, and a considerable
number of townspeople went out to the first services under the
new roof. When I first saw the Mission, near Don Juan
Forster's home, there was in its open doors, windows and cut-
stone and stucco ruins, its vines and wild flowers, much of
the picturesque.
On November i8th, 1862, our Kttle community was greatly
stirred by the news that John Rains, one of Colonel Isaac
Williams' sons-in-law and well known in Los Angeles, had
been waylaid and killed on the highway near the Azusa rancho
the night before. It was claimed that one Ramon Carrillo
had hired the assassins to do the foul deed; and about the
middle of February, 1863, a Mexican by the name of Manuel
Cerradel was arrested by Thomas Trafford, the City Marshal,
as a participant. In time, he was tried and sentenced to ten
years in San Quentin Prison. On December 9th, Sheriff Tomas
Sanchez started to take the prisoner north, and at Wilmington
boarded the little steamer Cricket to go out to the Senator, which
was ready to sail. A goodly number of other passengers also
boarded the tugboat, though nothing in particular was thought
of the circumstance; but once out in the harbor, a group of
Vigilantes, indignant at the light sentence imposed, seized the
culprit at a prearranged signal, threw a noose about his neck
and, in a jiffy, hung him to the flagstaff. When he was dead,
the body was lowered and stones — brought aboard in packages
by the committee, who had evidently considered every detail
• — were tied to the feet, and the corpse was thrown overboard
before the steamer was reached. This was one of the acts of the
Vigilantes that no one seemed to deprecate.
Toward the end of 1861, J. E. Pleasants, while overseeing
one of Wolfskin's ranches, hit the trail of some horse thieves
1863] Droughts— ^(/(a: Hancock Disaster 327
and, assisted by City Marshal William C. Warren, pursued and
captured several, who were sent to the penitentiary. One, how-
ever, escaped. This was Charles Wilkins, a veritable scoundrel
who, having stolen a pistol and a knife from the Bella Union
and put the same into the hands of young Wood (whose lynch-
ing I have described) , sent the lad on his way to the gallows. A
couple of years later Wilkins waylaid and murdered John San-
ford, a rancher iving near Fort Tejon and a brother of Captain
W. T. B. Sanford, the second Postmaster of Los Angeles; and
when the murderer had been apprehended and was being tried,
an exciting incident occurred, to which I was an eye-witness.
On November i6th, 1854, Phineas Banning had married Miss
Rebecca Sanford, a sister of the unfortunate man; and as
Banning caught sight of Wilkins, he rushed forward and en-
deavoiu-ed to avenge the crime by shooting the culprit. Ban-
ning was then restrained; but soon after, on December 17th,
1 863,. he led the Vigilance Committee which strung up Wil-
kins on Tomlinson & Griffith's corral gateway where nearly a
dozen culprits had already forfeited their lives.
CHAPTER XXIII
ASSASSINATION OF LINCOLN
I 864- I 865
OF all years of adversity before, during or since the Civil
War, the seemingly interminable year of 1864 was for
Southern California the worst. The varying moves
in the great struggle, conducted mostly by Grant and Lee, Sher-
man and Farragut, buoyed now one, now the other side; but
whichever way the tide of battle turned, business and financial
conditions here altered but little and improved not a whit.
The Southwest, as I have already pointed out, was more
dependent for its prosperity on natural conditions, such as rain,
than upon the victory of any army or fleet ; and as this was the
last of three successive seasons of annihilating drought,
ranchman and merchant everywhere became downhearted.
During the entire winter of 1862-63 no more than four inches
of rain had fallen, and in 1864 not until March was there a
shower, and even then the earth was scarcely moistened. With
a total assessment of something like two milUon dollars in the
County, not a cent of taxes (at least in the city) was collected.
Men were so miserably poor that confidence mutually weak-
ened, and merchants refused to trust those who, as land and
cattle-barons, but a short time before had been so influential
and most of whom, in another and more favorable season or two,
were again operators of affluence. How great was the depreci-
ation in values may be seen from the fact that notes given by
Francis Temple, and bearing heavy interest, were peddled
about at fifty cents on the dollar and even then found few
purchasers.
328
[1864-1865] Assassination of Lincoln 329
As a result of these very infrequent rains, grass started up
only to wither away, a small district around Anaheim inde-
pendent of the rainfall on account of its fine irrigation system,
alone being green ; and thither the lean and thirsty cattle came
by thousands, rushing in their feverish state against the great
willow-fence I have elsewhere described. This stampede became
such a menace, in fact, that the Anaheimers were summoned to
defend their homes and property, and finally they had to place
a mounted guard outside of the willow enclosures. Every-
where large numbers of horses and cattle died, as well as many
sheep, the plains at length being strewn with carcasses and
bleached bones. The suffering of the poor animals beggars
description; and so distressed with hunger were they that
I saw famished cattle (during the summer of 1864 while on a
visit to the springs at Paso de Robles) crowd around the hotel
veranda for the purpose of devouring the discarded matting-
containers which had held Chinese rice. I may also add that
with the approach of summer the drought became worse and
worse, contributing in no small degree to the spread of small-
pox, then epidemic here. Stearns lost forty or fifty thousand
head of li^je stock, and was much the greatest sufferer in this
respect; and as a result, he was compelled, about June, 1865,
to mortgage Los Alamitos rancho, with its twenty-six thousand
acres, to Michael Reese of San Francisco, for the almost paltry
sum of twenty thousand dollars. Even this sacrifice, however,
did not save him from still greater financial distress.
In 1864, two Los Angeles merchants, Louis Schlesinger and
Hyman Tischler, owing to the recent drought foreclosed a
mortgage on several thousand acres of land known as the
Ricardo Vejar property, lying between Los Angeles and San
Bernardino. Shortly after this transaction, Schlesinger was
killed while on his way to San Francisco, in the Ada Hancock
explosion ; after which Tischler purchased Schlesinger's interest
in the ranch and managed it alone.
In January, Tischler invited me to accompany him on one
of the numerous excursions which he made to his newly-ac-
quired possession, but, though I was inclined to go, a business
330 Sixty Years in Southern California [1864-
engagement interfered and kept me in town. Poor Edward
Newman, another friend of Tischler's, took my place. On
the way to San Bernardino from the rancho, the travelers were
ambushed by some Mexicans, who shot Newman dead. It was
generally assiimed that the bullets were intended for Tischler,
in revenge for his part in the foreclosure ; at any rate, he would
never go to the ranch again, and finally sold it to Don Louis
Phillips, on credit, for thirty thousand dollars. The inventory
included large herds of horses and cattle, which Phillips (during
the subsequent wet season) drove to Utah, where he realized
sufficient from their sale alone to pay for the whole property.
Pomona and other important places now mark the neighbor-
hood where once roamed his herds. Phillips died some years
ago at the family residence which he had built on the ranch
near Spadra.
James R. Toberman, after a trying experience with Texan
Redskins, came to Los Angeles in 1864, President Lincoln
having appointed him United States Revenue Assessor here,
an office which he held for six years. At the same time, as
an exceptional privilege for a Government officer, Toberman
was permitted to become agent for Wells Fargo & Company.
Again the Fourth of Juty was not celebrated here, the two
factions in the community still opposing each other with
bitterness. Hatred of the National Government had increased
through an incident of the previous spring which stirred the
town mightily. On the eighth or ninth of May, a group stood
discussing the Fort Pillow Massacre, when J. F. Bilderback
indiscreetl}'' expressed the wish that the Confederates would an-
nihilate every negro taken with arms, and every white man, as
well, who might be found in command of colored troops; or
some such equally dangerous and foolish sentiment. The in-
discretion was reported to the Government authorities, and
Bilderback was straightway arrested by a lieutenant of cavalry,
though he was soon released.
Among the most rabid Democrats, particiilarly during the
Civil War period, was Nigger Pete the barber. One hot day in
August, patriotic Biggs vociferously proclaimed his ardent at-
i86s] Assassination of Lincoln 33 1
tachment to the cause of Secession ; whereupon he was promptly-
arrested, placed in charge of half a dozen cavalrymen, and
made to foot it, with an iron chain and ball attached to his
ankle, all the way from Los Angeles to Drum Barracks at Wil-
mington. Not in the least discouraged by his uncertain
position, however, Pete threw his hat up into the air as he
passed some acquaintances on the road, and gave three hearty
cheers for Jeff Davis, thus bringing about the completion of
his difficulty.
For my part, I have good reason to remember the drought
and crisis of 1864, not alone because times were miserably hard
and prosperity seemed to have disappeared forever, or that the
important revenue from Uncle Sam, although it relieved the
situation, was never sufficient to go around, but also because
of an unfortunate investment. I bought and shipped many
thousands of hides which owners had taken from the carcasses
of their starved cattle, forwarding them to San Francisco by
schooner or steamer, and thence to New York by sailing vessel.
A large number had commenced to putrefy before they were
removed, which fact escaped my attention ; and on their arrival
in the East, the decomposing skins had to be taken out to sea
again and thrown overboard, so that the net results of this
venture were disastrous. However, we all met the difficulties
of the situation as philosophically as we could.
There were no railroads in California until the late sixties
and, consequently, there was no regular method of concentra-
tion, nor any systematic marketing of products ; and this had
a very bad economic effect on the whole State. Prices were
extremely high during her early history, and especially so in
1864. Barley sold at three and a half cents per pound; pota-
toes went up to twelve and a half cents ; and floiu- reached fifteen
dollars per barrel, at wholesale. Much flour in wooden barrels
was then brought from New York by sailing vessels; and my
brother imported a lot diuring a period of inflation, some of
which he sold at thirteen dollars. Isaac Friedlander, a San
Francisco pioneer, who was not alone the tallest man in that
city but was as well a giant operator in grain and its products,
332 Sixty Years in Southern California [1864-
practically monopolized the wheat and flour business of the
town ; and when he heard of this interference, he purchased all
the remainder of my brother's flour at thirteen dollars a barrel,
and so secured control of the situation.
Just before this transaction, I happened to be in San
Francisco and noticing the advertisement of an approaching
flour auction, I attended the sale. This particular lot was
packed in sacks which had been eaten into by rats and mice
and had, in consequence, to be resacked, sweepings and all. I
bought one hundred barrels and shipped the flour to Los
Angeles, and B. Dubordieu, the corpulent little French baker,
considered himself fortunate in obtaining it at fifteen dollars
per barrel.
Speaking of foodstuffs, I may note that red beans then
commanded a price of twelve and a half cents per pound,
until a sailing vessel from Chile unexpectedly landed a cargo in
San Francisco and sent the price dropping to a cent and a
quarter; when commission men, among them myself, suffered
heavy losses.
In 1864, F. Bachman & Company sold out. Their retire-
ment was ascribed in a measure to the series of bad years, but
the influence of their wives was a powerful factor in inducing
them to withdraw. The firm had been compelled to accept
large parcels of real estate in payment of accounts; and now,
while preparing to leave, Bachman & Co. sacrificed their fine
holdings at prices considered ridiculous even then. The only
one of these sales that I remember was that of a lot with a
frontage of one hundred and twenty feet on Fort Street, and
a one-story adobe house, which they disposed of for four hundred
dollars.
I have told of Don Juan Forster's possessions — the Santa
Margarita rancho, where he lived until his death, and also the
Las Flores. These he obtained in 1864, when land was worth
but the merest song, buying the same from Pio Pico, his
brother-in-law. The two ranches included over a hundred and
forty thousand acres, and pastured some twenty-five thousand
cattle, three thousand horses and six or seven thousand sheep ;
i865] Assassination of Lincoln 333
yet the transaction, on account of the season, was a fiscal
operation of but minor importance.
The hard times strikingly conduced to criminality and,
since there were then probably not more than three or four
policemen in Los Angeles, some of the desperadoes, here in large
numbers and not confined to any particular nationality or
color, took advantage of the conditions, even making several
peculiar nocturnal assaults upon the guardians of the peace.
The methods occasionally adopted satisfied the community
that Mexican bandidos were at work. Two of these worthies on
horseback, while approaching a policeman, would suddenly dash
in opposite directions, bringing a reata (in the use of which
they were always most proficient) taut to the level of their sad-
dles; and striking the poHceman with the hide or hair rope,
they would throw him to the ground with such force as to
disable him. Then the ingenious robbers would carry out their
well-planned depredations in the neighborhood and disappear
with their booty.
J. Ross Browne, one of the active Forty-niners in San
Francisco and author of Crusoe's Island and various other vol-
umes dealing with early life in California and along the Coast,
was on and off a visitor to Los Angeles, first passing through
here in 1859, en route to the Washoe Gold fields, and stopping
again in 1864.
Politics enlivened the situation somewhat in the fall of
this year of depression. In September, the troops were with-
drawn from Catalina Island, and the following month most
of the guard was brought in from Fort Tejon; and this, creating
possibly a feeling of security, paved the way for still larger
Union meetings in October and November. Toward the end
of October, Francisco P. Ramirez, formerly editor of El Clamor
Publico, was made Postmaster, succeeding William G. Still,
upon whose Mfe an attempt had been made while he was in
office.
As an illustration of how a fortunate plunger acquired prop-
erty now worth millions, through the disinclination on the part
of most people here to add to their taxes in this time of drought,
334 Sixty Years in Southern California [1864-
I may mention two pieces of land included in the early Ord
survey, one hundred and twenty by one hundred and sixty-five
feet in size — one at the southwest corner of Spring and Fourth
streets, the other at the southeast corner of Fort and Fourth —
which were sold on December 12th, 1864, for two dollars and
fifty-two cents, delinquent taxes. The tax on each lot was
but one dollar and twenty-six cents, yet only one purchaser
appeared !
About that very time, there was another and noteworthy
movement in favor of the establishment of a railroad between
Los Angeles and San Pedro. In December, committees from
outside towns met here with our citizens to debate the sub-
ject ; but by the end of the several days' conference, no real
progress had been made.
The year 1865 gave scant promise, at least in its opening,
of better times to come. To be sure. Northern arms were
more and more victorious, and with the approach of Lincoln's
second inauguration the conviction grew that under the leader-
ship of such a man national prosperity might return. Little
did we dream that the most dramatic of all tragedies in our
history was soon to be enacted. In Southern California the
effects of the long drought continued, and the certainty that
the cattle-industry, once so vast and flourishing, was now but a
memory, discouraged a people to whom the vision of a far more
profitable use of the land had not yet been revealed.
For several years my family, including three children, had
been shifting from pillar to post owing to the lack of residences
such as are now built to sell or lease, and I could not postpone
any longer the necessity of obtaining larger quarters. We
had occupied, at various times, a little shanty on Franklin Street,
owned by a carpenter named Wilson; a small, one-story brick
on Main Street near First, owned by Henne, the brewer; and
once we lived with the Kremers in a one-story house, none too
large, on Fort Street. Again we dwelt on Fort Street in a little
brick house that stood on the site of the present Chamber of
Commerce building, next door to Governor Downey's, before he
moved to Main Street. The nearest approach to convenience
i865] Assassination of Lincoln 335
was afforded by our occupancy of Henry Dalton's two-story
brick on Main Street near Second. One day a friend told me
that Jim Easton had an adobe on Main Street near Third,
which he wished to sell ; and on inquiry, I bought the place,
paying him a thousand dollars for fifty-four feet, the entire
frontage being occupied by the house. Main Street, beyond
First, was practically in the same condition as at the time of
my arrival, no streets running east having been opened south
of First.
After moving in, we were inconvenienced because there was
no driveway, and everything needed for housekeeping had to be
carried, in consequence, through the front door of the dwelling.
I therefore interviewed my friend and neighbor, Ygnacio Garcia,
who owned a hundred feet adjoining me, and asked him if he
would sell or rent me twenty feet of his property ; whereupon he
permitted me the free use of twenty feet, thus supplying me with
access to the rear of my house. A few months later, Alfred
B. Chapman, Garcia's legal adviser (who, by the way, is still
alive) ^ brought me a deed to the twenty feet of land, the only
expense being a fee of twenty-five dollars to Chapman for
making out the document ; and later Garcia sold his remaining
eighty feet to Tom Mott for five dollars a foot. This lot is
still in my possession. In due time, I put up a large, old-
fashioned wooden barn with a roomy hay-loft, stalls for a
couple of horses or mules, and space for a large fiat-truck, the
first of the kind for years in Los Angeles. John Simmons had
his room in the barn and was one of my first porters. I had
no regular driver for the truck, but John usually served in that
capacity.
Incidentally to this story of my selecting a street on which
to live, I may say that dviring the sixties Main and San Pedro
streets were among the chief residential sections, and Spring
Street was only beginning to be popular for homes. The fact
that some people living on the west side of Main Street built
their stables in back-yards connecting with Spring Street, re-
tarded the latter' s growth.
' Died, January 22d, 1915.
336 Sixty Years in Southern California [1864-
Here I may well repeat the story of the naming of Spring
Street, particularly as it exemplifies the influence that ro-
mance sometimes has upon affairs usually prosaic. Ord, the
surveyor, was then more than prepossessed in favor of the
delightful Sefiorita Trinidad de la Guerra, for whose hand he
was, in fact, a suitor and to whom he always referred as Mi
Primavera — "My Springtime;" and when asked to name the
new thoroughfare, he gallantly replied, "Primavera, of course!
Primavera!"
On February 3d, a wind-storm, the like of which the
proverbial "oldest inhabitant" could scarcely recall, struck
Los Angeles amidships, unroofing many houses and blowing
down orchards. Wolfskill lost heavily, and Banning & Com-
pany's large barn at the northeast corner of Fort and Second
streets, near the old schoolhouse, was demolished, scarcely a
post remaining upright. A curious sight, soon after the storm
began to blow, was that of many citizens weighing down and
lashing fast their roofs, just as they do in Sweden, Norway
and Switzerland, to keep them from being carried to un-
expected, not to say inconvenient, locations.
In early days, steamers plying up and down the Pacific
Coast, as I have pointed out, were so poor in every respect that
it was necessary to make frequent changes in their names, to
induce passengers to travel on them at all. As far back as
i860, one frequently heard the expression, "the old tubs;" and
in 1865, even the best-known boat on the Southern run was
publicly discussed as "the rotten old Senator," "the old hulk"
and "the floating coffin." At this time, there was a strong
feeling against the Steam Navigation Company for its ar-
bitrary treatment of the public, its steamers sometimes leaving
a whole day before the date on which they were advertised to
depart; and this criticism and dissatisfaction finally restdted
in the putting on of the opposition steamer Pacific which for
the time became popular.
In 1865, Judge Benjamin S. Eaton tried another agricultural
experiment which many persons of more experience at first
predicted would be a failure. He had moved into the cottage
i86s] Assassination of Lincoln 337
at Fair Oaks, built by the estimable lady of General Albert
Sidney Johnston, and had planted five thousand or more grape-
vines in the good though dry soil; but the lack of surface
water caused vineyardists to shake their heads incredulously.
The vines prospered so well that, in the following year,
Eaton planted five or six times as many more. He came to
the conclusion, however, that he must have water; and so
arranged to bring some from what is now known as Eaton's
Caiion. I remember that, after his vines began to bear,
the greatest worry of the Judge was not the matter of irrigation,
but the wild beasts that preyed upon the clustering fruit.
The visitor to Pasadena and Altadena to-day can hardly realize
that in those very localities both coyotes and bears were
rampant, and that many a night the irate Judge was roused
by the barking dogs as they drove the intruders out of the
vineyard.
Tomlinson & Company, always energetic competitors in
the business of transportation in Southern California, began
running, about the first of April, a new stage line between Los
Angeles and San Bernardino, making three trips a week.
On the fifteenth of April, my family physician. Dr. John S.
Griffin, paid a professional visit to my house on Main Street,
which might have ended disastrously for him. While we were
seated together by an open window in the dining-room, a man
named Kane ran by on the street, shouting out the momentous
news that Abraham Lincoln had been shot ! Griffin, who was a
staimch Southerner, was on his feet instantly, cheering for Jeff
Davis. He gave evidence, indeed, of great mental excitement,
and soon seized his hat and rushed for the door, hurrahing for
the Confederacy. In a flash, I realized that Griffin would be in
awful jeopardy if he reached the street in that unbalanced con-
dition, and by main force I held him back, convincing him at
last of his folly. In later years the genial Doctor frankly
admitted that I had tuidoubtedly saved him from certain
death.
This incident brings to mind another, associated with
Henry Baer, whose father, Abraham, a native of Bavaria and
338 Sixty Years in Southern California [1864-
one of the earliest tailors here, had arrived from New Orleans
in 1854. When Lincoln's assassination was first known,
Henry ran out of the house, singing Dixie and shouting for the
South; but his father, overtaking him, brought him back and
gave him a sound whipping — an act nearly breaking up the
Baer family, inasmuch as Mrs. Baer was a pronounced
Secessionist.
The news of Lincoln's assassination made a profound im-
pression in Los Angeles, though it cannot be denied that some
Southern sympathizers, on first impulse, thought that it would
be advantageous to the Confederate cause. There was, there-
fore, for the moment, some ill-advised exultation; but this was
promptly suppressed, either by the military or by the firm stand
of the more level-headed members of the community. Soon
even radically-inclined citizens, in an effort to uphold the
fair name of the town, fell into line, and steps were taken
fittingly to mourn the nation's loss. On the seventeenth of
April, the Common Council passed appropriate resolutions;
and Governor Low having telegraphed that Lincoln's funeral
would be held in Washington on the nineteenth, at twelve
o'clock noon, the Union League of Los Angeles took the initia-
tive and invited the various societies of the city to join in a
funeral procession.
On April 19th all the stores were closed, business was sus-
pended and soldiers as well as civilians assembled in front
of Arcadia Block. There were present United States officers,
mounted cavalry under command of Captain Ledyard; the
Mayor and Common Council; various lodges; the Hebrew
Congregation B'nai-B'rith; the Teutonia, the French Benevo-
lent and the Junta Patriotica societies, and numerous citi-
zens. Under the marshalship of S. F. Lamson the procession
moved slowly over what to-day would be regarded as an
insignificantly short route: west on Arcadia Street to Main;
down Main Street to Spring as far as First ; east on First Street
to Main and up Main Street, proceeding back to the City Hall
by way of Spring, at which point the parade disbanded.
Later, on the same day, there were memorial services in the
i865] Assassination of Lincoln 339
upper story of the old Temple Court House, where Rev. Elias
Birdsall, the Episcopal clergyman, delivered a splendid oration
and panegyric; and at the same time, the members of the
Hebrew Congregation met at the house of Rabbi A. W. Edel-
man. Prayers for the martyred President were uttered, and
supplication was made for the recovery of Secretary of State
Seward. The resolutions presented on this occasion concluded
as follows:
Resolved, that with feelings of the deepest sorrow we
deplore the loss our country has sustained in the untimely end
of our late President; but as it has pleased the Almighty to
deprive this Country of its Chief and great friend, we bow with
submission to the All-wise Will.
I may add that, soon after the assassination of the President,
the Federal authorities sent an order to Los Angeles to arrest
anyone found rejoicing in the foul deed; and that several per-
sons, soon in the toils, were severely dealt with. In San Fran-
cisco, too, when the startling news was flashed over the wires,
Unionist mobs demolished the plants of the Democratic Press,
the News Letter and a couple of other jotunals very abusive
toward the martyred Emancipator; the editors and pub-
lishers themselves escaping with their lives only by flight and
concealment.
Notwithstanding the strong Secessionist sentiment in Los
Angeles during much of the Civil War period, the City elec-
tion resulted in a Unionist victory. Jose Mascarel was elected
Mayor; William C. Warren, Marshal; J. F. Bums, Treasurer;
J. H. Lander, Attorney; and J. W. Beebe, Assessor. The
triumph of the Federal Government doubtless at once began to
steady and improve affairs throughout the country ; but it was
some time before any noticeable progress was felt here. Par-
ticularly unfortunate were those who had gone east or south for
actual service, and who were obliged to make their way, finally,
back to the Coast. Among such volunteers was Captain
Cameron E. Thom who, on landing at San Pedro, was glad to
340 Sixty Years in Southern California [1864-
have J. M. Griffith advance him money enough to reach Los
Angeles and begin life again.
Outdoor restaurant gardens were popular in the sixties.
On April 23d, the Tivoli Garden was reopened by Henry Sohms,
and thither, on holidays and Sundays, many pleasure-lovers
gravitated.
Sometime in the spring and during the incumbency of
Rev. Elias Birdsall as rector, the Right Reverend William
Ingraham Kip, who had come to the Pacific Coast in 1853,
made his first visit to the Episcopal Church in Los Angeles, as
Bishop of California, although really elevated to that high
office seven years before. Bishop Kip was one of the young
clergy who pleaded with the unresponsive culprits strung up by
the San Francisco Vigilance Committee of 1856; and later he
was known as an author. The Reverend Birdsall, by the way,
was Rector of St. Paul's School on Olive Street, between
Fifth and Sixth, as late as 1887.
John G. Downey subdivided the extensive Santa Gertrudis
rancho on the San Gabriel River in the spring, and the first
deed was made out to J. H. Burke, a son-in-law of Captain
Jesse Hunter. Burke, a man of splendid physique, was a
blacksmith whose Main Street shop was next to the site of the
present Van Nuys Hotel. Downey and he exchanged proper-
ties, the ex-Governor building a handsome brick residence on
Burke's lot, and Burke removing his blacksmith business to
Downey's new town where, by remaining until the property
had appreciated, he became well-to-do.
I have alluded to the Dominguez rancho, known as the San
Pedro, but I have not said that, in 1865, some four thousand
acres of this property were sold to Temple & Gibson at thirty-
five cents an acre, and that on a portion of this land G. D.
Compton founded the town named after him and first called
Comptonville. It was really a Methodist Church enterprise,
planned from the beginning as a pledge to teetotalism, and is of
particular interest because it is one of the oldest towns in Los
Angeles County, and certainly the first "dry" commvmity.
Compton paid Temple & Gibson five dollars an acre.
i865] Assassination of Lincoln 341
Toward the end of the War, that is, in May, Major-General
Irwin McDowell, the unfortunate commander of the Army of the
Potomac who had been nearly a year in charge of the Depart-
ment of the Pacific, made Los Angeles a long-announced visit,
coming on the Government steamer Saginaw. The distin-
guished officer, his family and suite were speedily whirled to
the Bella Union, the competing drivers shouting and cursing
themselves hoarse in their efforts to get the General or the
General's wife, in different stages, there first. As was cus-
tomary in those simpler days, most of the townsfolk whose
politics woiild permit called upon the guest ; and Editor Con-
way and other Unionists were long closeted with him. After
thirty-six hoiurs or more, during which the General inspected
the local Government headquarters and the ladies were driven
to, and entertained at, various homes, the party, accompanied
by Collector James and Attorney-General McCullough, boarded
the cutter and made off for the North.
Anticipating this visit of General McDowell, due prepara-
tions were made to receive him. It happened, however, as I
have indicated, that Jose Mascarel was then Mayor; and since
he had never been able to express himself freely in English,
though speaking Spanish as well as French, it was feared that
embarrassment must follow the meeting of the civil and mili-
tary personages. Luckily, however, like many scions of early
well-to-do American families, McDowell had been educated in
France, and the two chiefs were soon having a free and easy
talk in Mascarel's native tongue.
An effort, on May 2d, better to establish St. Vincent's
•College as the one institution of higher learning here was but
natural at that time. In the middle of the sixties, quite as
many children attended private academies in Los Angeles
County as were in the public schools, while three-fifths of all
children attended no school at all. At the beginning of the
Twentieth Century, two-thirds of all the children in the
county attended public schools.
CHAPTER XXIV
H. NEWMARK & CO. — CARLISLE-KING DUEL
I 865-1 866
FROM 1862 I continued for three years, as I have told, in
the commission business; and notwithstanding the bad
seasons, I was thus pursuing a sufficiently easy and
pleasant existence when a remark which, after the lapse of
time, I see may have been carelessly dropped, inspired me with
the determination to enter again upon a more strenuous and
confining life.
On Friday, June i8th, 1865, I was seated in my little office,
when a Los Angeles merchant named David Solomon, whose
store was in the Arcadia Block, called upon me and, with
much feeling, related that while returning by steamer from
the North, Prudent Beaudry had made the senseless boast
that he would drive every Jew in Los Angeles out of business.
Beaudry, then a man of large means, conducted in his one-
story adobe building on the northeast corner of Aliso and Los
Angeles streets the largest general merchandise establishment
this side of San Francisco. I listened to Solomon's recital
without giving expression to my immediately -formed resolve;
but no sooner had he left than I closed my office and started
for Wilmington.
During the twelve years that I had been in California the
forwarding business between Los Angeles and the Coast had
seen many changes. Tomlinson & Company, who had bought
out A. W. Timms, controlled the largest tonnage in town,
including that of Beaudry, Jones, Childs and others; while
342
H. Newmark & Co.'s Store, Arcadia Block, about 1875, Including (left) John Jones's
Former Premises
H. Newmark & Co.'s Building, Amestoy Block, about 1884
[I865-I866] H. Newmark & Co.-Carlisle-King Duel 343
Banning & Company, although actively engaged in the trans-
portation to Yuma of freight and supplies for the United States
Government, were handicapped for lack of business into Los
Angeles. I thought, therefore, that Phineas Banning would
eagerly seize an opportunity to pay his score to the numerous
local merchants who had treated him with so little considera-
tion. Besides, a very close intimacy existed between him and
myself, which may best be illustrated by the fact that, for years
past when short of cash, Banning used to come to my old
sheet-iron safe and help himself according to his requirements.
Arriving in Wilmington, I found Banning loading a lot of
teams with lumber. I related the substance of Solomon's
remarks and proposed a secret partnership, with the under-
standing that, providing he would release me from the then
existing charge of seven dollars and a half per ton for hauling
freight from Wilmington to Los Angeles, I should supply the
necessary capital, purchase a stock of goods, conduct the busi-
ness without cost to him and then divide the profits if any
should accrue. Banning said, "I must first consult Don
David," meaning Alexander, his partner, promising at the
same time to report the result within a few days. While I
was at dinner, therefore, on the following Sunday, Patrick
Downey, Banning's Los Angeles agent, called on me and stated
that "the Chief" was in his ofifice in the Downey Block, on
the site of Temple's old adobe, and would be glad to see me.
Without further parleying. Banning accepted my propo-
sition; and on the following morning, or June 21st, I rented
the last vacant store in Stearns's Arcadia Block on Los Angeles
Street, which stands to-day, by the way, much as it was erected
in 1858. It adjoined John Jones's, and was nearly opposite the
establishment of P. Beaudry. There I put up the sign of H.
Newmark, soon to be changed to H. Newmark & Company;
and it is a source of no little gratification to me that from this
small beginning has developed the wholesale grocery firm of
M. A. Newmark & Company.'
■ Fifty years after this unpretentious venture in Arcadia Block, that is, in the
summer of 1915, the half-centenary of M. A. Newmark & Company and their pre-
344 Sixty Years in Southern California [1865-
At that time, Stearns's property was all in the hands of the
Sheriff, Tomas Sanchez, who had also been appointed Receiver ;
and like all the other tenants, I rented my storeroom from
Deputy A. J. King. Rents and other incomes were paid to
the Receiver, and out of them a regular monthly allowance of
fifty dollars was made to Stearns for his private expenses. The
stock on Stearns's ranches, by the way, was then in charge of
Pierre Domec, a well-known and prosperous man, who was here
perhaps a decade before I came.
My only assistant was my wide-awake nephew, M. A.
Newmark, then fifteen years of age, who had arrived in Los
Angeles early in 1865. At my request Banning & Company
released their bookkeeper, Frank Lecouvreur, and I engaged
him. He was a thoroughly reliable man and had, besides, a
technical knowledge of wagon materials, in which, as a side-
line, I expected to specialize. While all of these arrangements
were being completed, the local business world queried and
buzzed as to my intentions.
Having rented quarters, I immediately telegraphed my
brother, J. P. Newmark, to buy and ship a quantity of flour,
sugar, potatoes, salt and other heavy staples; and these I sold,
upon arrival, at cost and steamer freight plus seven dollars
and a half per ton. Since the departure of my brother from
Los Angeles for permanent residence in San Francisco (where
he entered into partnership with Isaac Lightner, forming J. P.
Newmark & Company), he had been engaged in the com-
mission business; and this afforded me facilities I might
decessors was celebrated with a picnic in the woodlands belonging to Universal
City, the holiday and its pleasures having been provided by the firm as a compli-
ment to its employees. On that occasion, a loving-cup was presented by the
employees to M. A. Newmark, who responded feelingly to the speech by M. H.
Newmark. Another, but somewhat differently inscribed cup was tendered Harris
Newmark in an address by Herman Flatau, bringing from the venerable recipient
a hearty reply, full of genial reminiscence and natural emotion, in which he happily
likened his commercial enterprise, once the small store in Los Angeles Street, to
a snowball rolling down the mountain-side, gathering in momentum and size
and, fortunately, preserving its original whiteness. Undoubtedly, this Fifty- Year
Jubilee will take its place among the pleasantest experiences of a long and varied
career. — The Editors.
i866] H. Newmark & Co.— Carlisle-King Duel 345
otherwise not have had. Inasmuch also, as all of my neigh-
bors were obliged to pay this toll for hauling, while I was
not, they were forced to do business at cost. About the
first of July, I went to San Francisco and laid in a complete
stock paralleling, with the exception of clothing and dry goods,
the lines handled by Beaudry. Banning, who was then build-
ing prairie schooners for which he had ordered some three
hundred and fifty tons of iron and other wagon materials,
joined me in chartering the brig Tanner on which I loaded
an equal tonnage of general merchandise, wagon parts and
blacksmith coal. The very important trade with Salt Lake
City, elsewhere described, helped us greatly, for we at once
negotiated with the Mormon leaders; and giving them credit
when they were short of funds, it was not long before we were
brought into constant communication with Brigham Young and
through his influence monopolized the Salt Lake business.
Thinking over these days of our dealings with the Latter-
day Saints, I recall a very amusing experience with an apostle
named Crosby, who once brought down a number of teams and
wagons to load with supplies. During his visit to town, I
invited him and several of his friends to dinner ; and in answer
to the commonplace inquiry as to his preference for some par-
ticular part of a dish, Crosby made the logical Mormonite reply
that quantity was what appealed to him most — a flash of wit
much appreciated by all of the guests. During this same visit,
Crosby tried hard to convert me to Mormonism; but, after
several ineffectual interviews, he abandoned me as a hopeless
case.
At another time, while reflecting on my first years as a
wholesale grocer, I was led to examine a day-book of 1867 and
to draw a comparison between the prices then current and now,
when the high cost of living is so much discussed. Raw sugar
sold at fourteen cents; starch at sixteen; crushed sugar at
seventeen; ordinary tea at sixty; coal oil at sixty-five cents a
gallon ; axle-grease at seventy-five cents per tin ; bluing at one
dollar a pound; and wrapping paper at one dollar and a half
per ream. Spices, not yet sold in cans, cost three dollars for a
346 Sixty Years in Southern California [1865-
dozen bottles; yeast powders, now superseded by baking
powder, commanded the same price per dozen; twenty-five
pounds of shot in a bag cost three dollars and a half ; while in
October of that year, blacksmith coal, shipped in casks holding
fifteen hundred and ninety-two pounds each, sold at the rate
of fifty dollars .a ton.
The steamers Oriflamme, California, Pacific and Sierra
Nevada commenced to run in 1866 and continued until about
the middle of the seventies. The Pacific was later sunk in the
Straits of San Juan de Fuca; and the Sierra Nevada was lost
on the rocks off Port Harford. The Los Angeles, the Ventura
and the Constantine were steamers of a somewhat later date,
seldom going farther south than San Pedro and continuing
to run until they were lost.
To resume the suggestive story of I. W. Hellman, who
remained in business with his cousin until he was able in 1865
to buy out Adolph Portugal and embark for himself, at the
corner of Main and Commercial streets : during his association
with large landowners and men of affairs, who esteemed
him for his practicality, he was fortunate in securing their
confidence and patronage; and being asked so often to op-
erate for them in financial matters, he laid the foundation for
his subsequent career as a banker, in which he has attained such
success.
The Pioneer Oil Company had been organized about the
first of February, with Phineas Banning, President; P. Downey,
Secretary; Charles Ducommon, Treasiirer; and Winfield S.
Hancock, Dr. John S. Griffin, Dr. J. B. Winston, M. Keller,
B. D. Wilson, J. G. Downey and Volney E. Howard among the
trustees ; and the company soon acquired title to all hrea, petro-
leum or rock oil in San Pasqual rancho. In the early summer,
Sackett & Morgan, on Main Street near the Post Office,
exhibited some local kerosene or "coal-oil;" and experimenters
were gathering the oil that floated on Pico Spring and refining
it, without distillation, at a cost of ten cents a gallon. Coming
just when Major Stroble announced progress in boring at la
Caiiada de Brea, these ventures increased here the excitement
1866] H. Newmark & Co. — Carlisle-King Duel 347
about oil and soon after wells were sunk in the Camulos
rancho.
On Wednesday afternoon, July 5tli, at four o'clock, occurred
one of the pleasant social occasions of the mid-sixties — the
wedding of Solomon Lazard and Miss Caroline, third daughter
of Joseph Newmark. The bride's father performed the cere-
mony at M. Kremer's residence on Main Street, near my own
adobe and the site on which, later, C. E. Thom built his charm-
ing residence, with its rural attractions, diagonally across from
the pleasant grounds of Colonel J. G. Howard. The same even-
ing at half -past eight a ball and dinner at the Bella Union cele-
brated the event.
While these festivities were taking place, a quarrel, ending
in a tragedy, began in the hotel office below. Robert Carlisle,
who had married Francisca, daughter of Colonel Isaac Wil-
liams, and was the owner of some forty-six thousand acres
comprising the Chino Ranch, fell into an altercation with A. J.
King, then Under Sheriff, over the outcome of a murder trial ; but
before any further damage was done, friends separated them.
About noon on the following day, however, when people
were getting ready to leave for the steamer and everything was
life and bustle about the hotel, Frank and Houston King,
the Under Sheriff's brothers, passing by the bar-room of the
Bella Union and seeing Carlisle inside, entered, drew their
six-shooters and began firing at him. Carlisle also drew a
revolver and shot Frank King, who died almost instantly.
Houston King kept up the fight, and Carlisle, riddled with
bullets, dropped to the sidewalk. There King, not yet seriously
injured, struck his opponent on the head, the force of the
blow breaking his weapon ; but Carlisle, a man of iron, put forth
his little remaining strength, staggered to the wall, raised his
pistol with both hands, took deliberate aim and fired. It
was his last, but effective shot, for it penetrated King's body.
Carlisle was carried into the hotel and placed on a billiard-
table ; and there, about three o'clock, he expired. At the first
exchange of shots, the people nearby, panic-stricken, fled, and
only a merciful Providence prevented the sacrifice of other
348 Sixty Years in Southern California [1865-
lives. J. H. Lander was accidentally wounded in the thigh;
some eight or ten bystanders had their clothes pierced by stray
bullets; and one of the stage-horses dropped where he stood
before the hotel door. When the first shot was fired, I was on
the corner of Commercial Street, only a short distance away,
and reached the scene in time to see Frank King expire and
witness Carlisle writhing in agony — a death more striking,
considering the murder of Carlisle's brother-in-law, John Rains.
Carlisle was buried from the Bella Union at four o'clock the
next day. King's funeral took place from A. J. King's resi-
dence, two days later, at eight o'clock in the morning.
Houston King having recovered, he was tried for Carlisle's
murder, but was acquitted; the trial contributing to make the
affair one of the most mournful of all tragic events in the
early history of Los Angeles, and rendering it impossible to
express the horror of the public. One feature only of the
terrible contest afforded a certain satisfaction, and that was
the splendid exhibition of those qualities, in some respects
heroic, so common among the old Californians of that time.
July was clouded with a particularly gruesome murder.
George Williams and Cyrus Kimball of San Diego, while
removing with their families to Los Angeles, had spent the
night near the Santa Ana River, and while some distance from
camp, at sunrise next morning, were overtaken by seven armed
desperadoes, under the leadership of one Jack O'Brien, and
without a word of explanation, were shot dead. The women,
hearing the commotion, ran toward the spot, only to be com-
manded by the robbers to deliver all money and valuables in
their possession. Over three thousand dollars — the entire sav-
ings of their husbands — was secured, after which the murderers
made their escape. Posses scoured the surrounding country,
but the cutthroats were never apprehended.
Stimulated, perhaps, by the King-Carlisle tragedy, the
Common Council in July prohibited everybody except officers
and travelers from carrying a pistol, dirk, sling-shot or sword;
but the measure lacked public support, and little or no atten-
tion was paid to the law.
i866] H. Newmark & Co.— Carlisle-King Duel 349
Some idea of the modest proportion of business affairs in
the early sixties may be gathered from the fact that, when the
Los Angeles Post Office, on August loth, was made a money-
deposit office, it was obligatory that all cash in excess of
five hundred dollars should be despatched by steamer to San
Francisco.
In 1865, W. H. Perry, having been given a franchise to light
the city with gas, organized the Los Angeles City Gas Company,
five years later selling out his holdings at a large profit. A
promise was made to furnish free gas for lamps at the principal
crossings on Main Street and for lights in the Mayor's office, and
the consumers' price at first agreed upon was ten dollars a
thousand cubic feet.
The history of Westlake Park is full of interest. About
1865, the City began to sell part of its public land, in lots of
thirty-five acres, employing E. W. Noyes as auctioneer. Much
of it went at five and ten dollars an acre ; but when the district
now occupied by the park and lake was reached, the auctioneer
called in vain for bids at even a dollar an acre ; nobody wanted
the alkali hillocks. Then the auctioneer offered the area at twen-
ty-five cents an acre, but still received no bids, and the sale was
discontinued. In the late eighties, a number of citizens who
had bought land in the vicinity came to Mayor Workman and
promised to pay one-half of the cost of making a lake and laying
out pleasure grounds on the unsightly place; and as the Mayor
favored the plan, it was executed, and this was the first step in
the formation of Westlake Park.
On September 2d, Dr. J. J. Dyer, a dentist from San
Francisco, having opened an office in the Bella Union hotel,
announced that he would visit the homes of patrons and there
extract or repair the sufferers' teeth. The complicated equip-
ment of a modern dentist would hardly permit of such peri-
patetic service to-day, although representatives of this pro-
fession and also certain opticians still travel to many of the
small inland towns in California, once or twice a year, stopping
in each for a week or two at a time.
I have spoken of the use, in 1853, of river water for drink-
350 Sixty Years in Southern California [1865-
ing, and the part played by the private water-carrier. This
system was still largely used until the fall when David W.
Alexander leased all the public water-works for four years,
together with the privilege of renewing the lease another four
or six years. Alexander was to pay one thousand dollars
rental a year, agreeing also to surrender the plant to the
City at the termination of his contract. On August 7th,
Alexander assigned his lease to Don Louis Sainsevain, and
about the middle of October Sainsevain made a new contract.
Damien Marchessault associated himself with Don Louis and
together they laid pipes from the street now known as Macy
throughout the business part of the city, and as far ( ! ) south as
First Street. These water pipes were constructed of pine logs
from the mountains of San Bernardino, bored and made to
join closely at the ends; but they were continually bursting,
causing springs of water that made their way to the surface of
the streets.
Conway & Waite sold the News, then a "tri-weekly" sup-
posed to appear three times a week, yet frequently issued
but twice, to A. J. King & Company, on November nth;
and King, becoming the editor, made of the newspaper a semi-
weekly.
To complete what I was saying about the Schlesingers :
In 1865, Moritz returned to Germany. Jacob had arrived in
Los Angeles in i860, but disappearing four years later, his
whereabouts was a mystery until, one fine day, his brother
received a letter from him dated, "Gun Boat Pocahontas."
Jake had entered the service of Uncle Sam! The Pocahontas
was engaged in blockade work under command of Admiral
Farragut ; and Jake and the Admiral were paying special atten-
tion to Sabine Pass, then fortified by the Confederacy.
On November 27th, Andrew J. Glassell and Colonel
James G. Howard arrived together in Los Angeles. The
former had been admitted to the California Bar some ten or
twelve years before; but in the early sixties he temporarily
abandoned his profession and engaged in ranching near Santa
Cruz. After the War, Glassell drifted back to the practice
1866] H. Newmark & Co.— Carlisle-King Duel 351
of law ; and having soon cast his lot with Los Angeles, formed a
partnership with Alfred B. Chapman. Two or three years
later, Colonel George H. Smith, a Confederate Army officer
who in the early seventies lived on Fort Street, was taken
into the firm; and for years Glassell, Chapman and Smith
were among the leading attorneys at the Los Angeles Bar.
Glassell died on January 28th, 1901.
To add to the excitement of the middle sixties, a picturesque
street encounter took place, terminating almost fatally. Col-
onel, the redoubtable E. J. C. Kewen, and a good-natured
German named Fred Lemberg, son-in-law to the old miller
Bors, having come to blows on Los Angeles Street near Mel-
lus's Row, Lemberg knocked Kewen down; whereupon friends
interfered and peace was apparently restored. Kewen, a
Southerner, dwelt upon the fancied indignity to which he
had been subjected and went from store to store until he
finally borrowed a pistol; after which, in front of John
Jones's, he lay in wait. When Lemberg, who, because of his
nervous energy, was known as the Flying Dutchman, again
appeared, rushing across the street in the direction of Mellus's
Row, the equally excited Colonel opened fire, drawing from his
adversary a retaliatory round of shots. I was standing nearly
opposite the scene and saw the Flying Dutchman and Kewen,
each dodging around a pillar in front of The Row, until finally
Lemberg, with a bullet in his abdomen, ran out into Los
Angeles Street and fell to the ground, his legs convulsively
assuming a perpendicular position and then dropping back.
After recovering from what was thought to be a fatal wound,
Lemberg left Los Angeles for Arizona or Mexico ; but before he
reached his destination, he was murdered by Indians.
I have told of the trade between Los Angeles and Salt Lake
City, which started up briskly in 1855, and grew in importance
until the completion of the transcontinental railroad put an
end to it. Indeed, in 1865 and 1866 Los Angeles enterprise
pushed forward until merchandise was teamed as far as Ban-
nock, Idaho, four hundred and fifty miles beyond Salt Lake, and
Helena, Montana, fourteen hundred miles away. This indicates
352 Sixty Years in Southern California [1865-
to what an extent the building of railroads iiltimately affected
the early Los Angeles merchants.
The Spanish drama was the event of December 1 7th, when
Senor Don Guirado L. del Castillo and Senora Amelia Estrella
del Castillo played La Trenza de sus Cabellos to an enthusiastic
audience.
In 1865 or 1866, William T. Glassell, a younger brother
of Andrew Glassell, came to Los Angeles on a visit; and being
attracted by the Southwest country, he remained to assist Glas-
sell & Chapman in founding Orange, formerly known as Rich-
land. No doubt pastoral California looked good to young
Glassell, for he had but just passed eighteen weary months in a
Northern military prison. Having thought out a plan for
blowing up the United States ironclads off Charleston Harbor,
Lieutenant Glassell supervised the construction of a cigar-
shaped craft, known as a David, which carried a torpedo at-
tached to the end of a fifteen-foot pole; and on October 5th,
1863, young Glassell and three other volunteers steamed out
in the darkness against the formidable new Ironsides, The
torpedo was exploded, doing no greater damage than to send
up a column of water, which fell onto the ship, and also to
hurl the young officers into the bay. Glassell died here at an
early age.
John T. Best, the Assessor, was another pioneer who had an
adventurous life prior to, and for a long time after, coming
to California. Having run away to sea from his Maine home
about the middle fifties. Best soon found himself among
pirates; but escaping their clutches, he came under the domi-
nation of a captain whose cruelty, off desolate Cape Horn, was
hardly preferable to death. Reaching California about 1858,
Best fled from another captain's brutality and, making his
way into the Northern forests, was taken in and protected by
kind-hearted woodmen secluded within palisades. Successive
Indian outbreaks constantly threatened him and his comrades,
and for years he was compelled to defend himself against the
savages. At last, safe and sound, he settled within the pale of
civilization, at the outbreak of the Civil War enlisting as a
1866] H. Newmark & Co.— Carlisle-King Duel 353
Union officer in the first battalion of California soldiers.
Since then Best has resided mostly in Los Angeles.
The year 1866 is memorable as the concluding period of
the great War. Although Lee had surrendered in the preced-
ing April, more than fifteen months elapsed before the Wash-
ington authorities officially proclaimed the end of the Titanic
struggle which left one-half of the nation prostrate and the
other half burdened with new and untold responsibilities. By
the opening of the year, however, one of the miracles of mod-
ern history — the quiet and speedy return of the soldier to the
vocations of peace — began, and soon some of those who had
left for the front when the War broke out were to be seen again
in our Southland, starting life anew. With them, too, came
a few pioneers from the East, harbingers of an army soon to
settle our valleys and seasides. All in all, the year was the
beginning of a brighter era.
Here it may not be amiss to take up the tale of the mimic
war in which Phineas Banning and I engaged, in the little
commercial world of Los Angeles, and to tell to what an extent
the fortunes of my competitors were influenced, and how the
absorption of the transportation charge from the seaboard
caused their downfall. O. W. Childs, in less than three months,
found the competition too severe and surrendered "lock,
stock and barrel;" P. Beaudry, whose vain-glorious boast had
stirred up this rumpus, sold out to me on January ist, 1866,
just a few months after his big talk. John Jones was the last
to yield.
In January, 1866, I bought out Banning, who was soon to
take his seat in the Legislature for the advancing of his San
Pedro Railroad project, and agreed to pay him, in the future,
seven dollars and a half per ton for hauling my goods from
Wilmington to Los Angeles, which was mutually satisfactory;
and when we came to balance up, it was found that Banning
had received, for his part in the enterprise, an amount equal
to all that would otherwise have been charged for transportation
and a tidy sum besides.
Sam, brother of Kaspare Cohn, who had been in Carson
354 Sixty Years in Southern California [1865-
City, Nevada, came to Los Angeles and joined me. We
grew rapidly, and in a short time became of some local impor-
tance. When Kaspare sold out at Red Bliiff, in January,
1866, we tendered him a partnership. We were now three very '
busy associates, besides M. A. Newmark, who clerked for us.
Several references have been made to the trade between
Los Angeles and Arizona, due in part to the needs of the Army
there. I remember that early in February not less than
twenty-seven Government wagons were drawn up in front of
H. Newmark & Company's store, to be loaded with seventy to
seventy -five tons of groceries and provisions for troops in the
Territory.
Notwithstanding the handicaps in this wagon-train traffic,
there was still much objection to railroads, especially to the plan
for a line between Los Angeles and San Pedro, some of the
strongest opposition coming from El Monte where, in February,
ranchers circulated a petition, disapproving railroad bills
introduced by Banning into the Legislature. A common
argument was that the railroad would do away with horses and
the demand for barley ; and one wealthy citizen who succeeded
in inducing many to follow his lead, vehemently insisted that
two trains a month, for many years, would be all that could
be expected! By 1874, however, not less than fifty to
sixty freight cars were arriving daily in Los Angeles from
Wilmington.
Once more, in 1866, the Post Office was moved, this time to
a building opposite the Bella Union hotel. There it remained
until perhaps 1868, when it was transferred to the northwest
corner of Main and Market streets.
In the spring of 1 866, the Los Angeles Board of Education
was petitioned to establish a school where Spanish as well as
English should be taught — probably the first step toward the
introduction into public courses here of the now much-studied
castellano.
In noting the third schoolhouse, at the corner of San Pedro
and Washington streets, I should not forget to say that Judge
Dryden bought the lot for the City, at a cost of one htmdred
1866] H. Newmark & Co.— Carlisle-King Duel 355
dollars. When the fourth school was erected, at the corner of
Charity and Eighth streets, it was built on property secured
for three hundred and fifty dollars by M. Kremer, who served
on the School Board for nine years, from l866, with Henry
D. Barrows and William Workman. There, a few years ago,
a brick building replaced the original wooden structure. Be-
sides Miss Eliza Madigan, teachers of this period or later
were the Misses Hattie and Frankie Scott, daughters of Judge
Scott, the Misses Maggie Hamilton, Eula P. Bixby, Emma L.
Hawkes, Clara M. Jones, H. K. Saxe and C. H. Kimball; a
sister of Governor Downey, soon to become Mrs. Peter Martin,
was also a public school teacher.
Piped gas as well as water had been quite generally brought
into private use shortly after their introduction, all pipes
running along the surface of walls and ceilings, in neither a
very judicious nor ornamental arrangement. The first gas-
fixtures consisted of the old-fashioned, unornamented drops
from the ceiling, connected at right angles to the cross-pipe,
with its two plain burners, one at either end, forming an inverted
T (X) ; and years passed before artistic bronzes and globes, such
as were displayed in profusion at the Centennial Exposition,
were seen to any extent here.
In September, Leon Loeb arrived in Los Angeles and
entered the employ of S. Lazard & Company, later becoming
a partner. When Eugene Meyer left for San Francisco on
the first of January, 1884, resigning his position as French Con-
sular Agent, Loeb succeeded him, both in that capacity and
as head of the firm. After fifteen years' service, the French
Government conferred upon Mr. Loeb the decoration of an
Officer of the Academy. As Past Master of the Odd Fel-
lows, he became in time one of the oldest members of Lodge
No. 35. On March 23d, 1879, Loeb married my eldest daughter,
Estelle; and on July 22d, 191 1, he died. Joseph P. and Edwin
J. Loeb, the attorneys and partners of Irving M. Walker,
(son-in-law of Tomas Lorenzo Duque),^ are sons of Leon Loeb.
In the summer there came to Los Angeles from the North-
»Died on April 6th, 1915.
356 Sixty Years in Southern California [1865-
ern part of California an educator who already had established
there and in Wisconsin an excellent reputation as a teacher.
This was George W. Burton, who was accompanied by his
wife, a lady educated in France and Italy. With them they
brought two assistants, a young man and a young woman,
adding another young woman teacher after they arrived.
The company of pedagogues made quite a formidable array;
and their number permitted the division of the school — then on
Main near what is now Second Street — into three departments :
one a kind of kindergarten, another for young girls and a third
for boys. The school grew and it soon became necessary to
move the boys' department to the vestry-room of the little
Episcopal Church on the corner of Temple and New High
streets.
Not only was Burton an accomplished scholar and expe-
rienced teacher, but Mrs. Burton was a linguist of talent and
also proficient in both instrumental and vocal music. Our
eldest children attended the Burton School, as did also those
of many friends such as the Kremers, Whites, Morrises,
Griffiths, the Volney Howards, Kewens, Scotts, Nichols, the
Schumachers, Joneses and the Bannings.
Daniel Bohen, another watchmaker and jeweler, came
after Pyle, establishing himself, on September nth, on the
south side of Commercial Street. He sold watches, clocks,
jewelry and spectacles ; and he used to advertise with the figure
of a huge watch. S. Nordlinger, who arrived here in 1868,
bought Bohen out and continued the jewelry business during
forty- two years, until his death in 191 1, when, as a pioneer
jeweler, he was succeeded by Louis S. and Melville Nord-
linger, who still use the title of S. Nordlinger & Sons.
Charles C. Lips, a German, came to Los Angeles from
Philadelphia in 1866 and joined the wholesale liquor firm of
E. Martin & Company, later Lips, Craigue & Company, in the
Baker Block. As a volunteer fireman, he was a member of
the old Thirty-Eights; a fact adding interest to the appoint-
ment, on February 28th, 1905, of his son, Walter Lips, as Chief
of the Los Angeles Fire Department.
1866] H. Newmark & Co.— Carlisle-King Duel 357
On October 3d, William Wolfskill died, mourned by many.
Though but sixty-eight years of age, he had witnessed much in
the founding of our great Southwestern commonwealth; and
notwithstanding the handicaps to his early education, and the
disappointments of his more eventful years, he was a man of
marked intelligence and remained unembittered and kindly
disposed toward his fellow-men.
A good example of what an industrious man, following an
ordinary trade, could accomplish in early days was afforded
by Andrew Joughin, a blacksmith, who came here in 1866, a
powerful son of the Isle of Man, measuring over six feet and
tipping the beam at more than two hundred pounds. He had
soon saved enough money to buy for five hundred dollars a
large frontage at Second and Hill streets, selling it shortly
after for fifteen hundred. From Los Angeles, Joughin went to
Arizona and then to San Juan Capistrano, but was back here
again in 1870, opening another shop. Toward the middle
seventies, Joughin was making rather ingenious plows of iron
and steel which attracted considerable attention. As fast as
he accumulated a little money, he invested it in land, buying
in 1874, for six thousand dollars, some three hundred and sixty
acres comprising a part of one of the Cienega ranchos, to
which he moved in 1876. Seven years later, he purchased three
hundred and five acres once called the Tom Gray Ranch, now
known by the more pretentious name of Arlington Heights.
In 1888, three years after he had secured six hundred acres
of the Palos Verdes rancho near Wilmington, the blacksmith
retired and made a grand tour of Eiirope, revisiting his beloved
Isle of Man.
Pat Goodwin was another blacksmith, who reached Los
Angeles in 1866 or 1867, shoeing his way, as it were, south
from San Francisco, through San Jose, Whisky Flat and other
picturesque places, in the service of A. O. Thorn, one of the
stage-line proprietors. He had a shop first on Spring Street,
where later the Empire Stables were opened, and afterward
at the corner of Second and Spring streets, on the site in time
bought by J. E. HoUenbeck.
358 Sixty Years in Southern California [1865-1866]
Still another smith of this period was Henry King (brother
of John King, formerly of the Bella Union), who in 1879-80
served two terms as Chief of Police. Later, A. L. Bath was a
well-known wheelwright who located his shop on Spring Street
near Third.
In 1866, quite a calamity befell this pueblo: the abandon-
ment by the Government of Drum Barracks. As this had
been one of the chief soiu-ces of revenue for our small com-
munity, the loss was severely felt, and the immediate effect dis-
astrous. About the same time, too, Samuel B. Caswell (father
of W. M. Caswell, first of the Los Angeles Savings Bank and
now of the Security) , who had come to Los Angeles the year be-
fore, took into partnership John F. Ellis, and under the title of
Caswell & Ellis, they started a good-sized grocery and mer-
chandise business; and between the competition that they
brought and the reduction of the circulating medium, times
with H. Newmark & Company became somewhat less pros-
perous. Later, John H. Wright was added .to the firm, and
it became Caswell, Ellis & Wright. On September ist, 1871,
the firm dissolved.
CHAPTER XXV
REMOVAL TO NEW YORK, AND RETURN
I 867- I 868
THE reader may already have noted that more than one
important move in my life has been decided upon with
but little previous deliberation. During August, 1866,
while on the way to a family picnic at La Ballona, my brother
suggested the advisability of opening an office for H. Newmark
& Company in New York; and so quickly had I expressed my
willingness to remove there that, when we reached the rancho, I
announced to my wife that we would leave for the East as soon
as we could get ready. Circumstances, however, delayed our
going a few months.
My family at this time consisted of my wife and four chil-
dren; and together on January 29th, 1867, we left San Pedro for
New York, by way of San Francisco and Panama, experiencing
frightfully hot weather. Stopping at Acapulco, during Maxi-
milian's revolution, we were summarily warned to keep away
from the fort on the hill ; while at Panama yellow fever, spread
by travelers recently arrived from South America, caused the
Captain to beat a hasty retreat. Sailing on the steamer Henry
Chancey from Aspinwall, we arrived at New York on the sixth
of March; and having domiciled my family comfortably, my
next care was to establish an office on the third floor at 3 1 and
33 Broadway, placing it in charge of M. J. Newmark, who
had preceded me to the metropolis a year before. In a short
time, I bought a home on Forty-ninth Street, between Sixth
and Seventh avenues, then an agreeable residence district. An
359
36o Sixty Years in Southern California [1867-
intense longing to see my old home next induced me to return
to Europe, and I sailed on May i6th for Havre on the steam-
propeller Union; the band playing The Highland Fling as the
vessel left the pier. In mid-ocean, the ship's propeller broke,
and she completed the voyage under sail. Three months later,
I returned on the Russia. The recollection of this journey
gives me real satisfaction ; for had I not taken it then, I should
never again have seen my father. On the twenty-first of the
following November, or a few months after I last bade him
good-bye, he died at Loebau, in the seventy-fifth year of his
age. My mother had died in the summer of 1859.
It was during this visit that, tarrying for a week in the
brilliant French capital, I saw the Paris Exposition, housed
to a large extent in one immense building in the Champ de
Mars. I was wonderfully impressed with both the city and the
fair, as well as with the enterprising and artistic French people
who had created it, although I was somewhat disappointed
that, of the fifty thousand or more exhibitors represented, but
seven hundred were Americans.
One little incident may be worth relating. While I was
standing in the midst of the machinery one day, the gendarmes
suddenly began to force the crowd back, and on retreating with
the rest, I saw a group of ladies and gentlemen approaching.
It was soon whispered that they were the Empress Eugenie
and her suite, and that we had been commanded to retire in
order to permit her Majesty to get a better view of a new rail-
road coach that she desired to inspect.
Not long ago I was reading of a trying ordeal in the life
of Elihu B. Washburne, American Minister to France, who,
having unluckily removed his shoe at a Court dinner, was
compelled to rise with the company on the sudden appearance
of royalty, and to step back with a stockinged foot! The
incident recalled an experience of my own in London. I had
ordered from a certain shoemaker in Berlin a pair of patent-
leather gaiters which I wore for the first time when I went to
Covent Garden with an old friend and his wife. It was a very
warm evening and the performance had not progressed far
1868] Removal to New York, and Return 361
before it became evident that the shoes were too small. I was,
in fact, nearly overcome with pain, and in my desperation
removed the gaiters (when the lights were low), quietly shoved
them under the seat and sat out the rest of the performance
with a fair degree of comfort and composure. Imagine my
consternation, however, when I sought to put the shoes on
again and found the operation almost impossible! The
curtain fell while I was explaining and apologizing to my
friends; and nearly every light was extinguished before I was
ready to emerge from the famous opera house and limp to a
waiting carriage.
A trifling event also lingers among the memories of this
revisit to my native place. While journeying towards Loebau
in a stage, I happened to mention that I had married since
settling in America; whereupon one of my fellow-passengers
inquired whether my wife was white, brown or black?
Major Ben C. Truman was President Johnson's private
secretary until he was appointed, in 1866, special agent for the
Post Office department on the Pacific Coast. He came to Los
Angeles in February, 1867, to look after postal matters in
Southern California and Arizona, but more particularly to
reestablish, between Los Angeles and points in New Mexico, the
old Butterfield Route which had been discontinued on account
of the War. Truman opened post ofBces at a number of places
in Los Angeles County. On December 8th, 1869, the Major
married Miss Augusta Mallard, daughter of Judge J. S.
Mallard. From July, 1873, until the late summer of 1877, he
controlled the Los Angeles Star, contributing to its columns
many excellent sketches of early life in Southern California,
some of which were incorporated in one or more substantial
volumes; and of all the pioneer journalists here, it is probable
that none have surpassed this affable gentleman in brilliancy
and genial, kindly touch. Among Truman's books is an illus-
trated work entitled Semi-Tropical California, dedicated, with
a Dominus vobiscum, to Phineas Banning and published in
San Francisco, 1874; while another volume, issued seven years
later, is devoted to Occidental Sketches.
362 Sixty Years in Southern California [1867-
A fire, starting in Bell's Block on Los Angeles Street, on
July 13th, during my absence from the city, destroyed prop-
erty to the value of sixty-four thousand dollars ; and the same
season, S. Lazard & Company moved their dry goods store
from Bell's Row to Wolfskill's building on Main Street, opposite
the Bella Union hotel.
Germain Pellissier, a Frenchman from the Hautes-Alpes,
came to Los Angeles in August, and for twenty-eight years
lived at what is now the corner of Seventh and Olive streets.
Then the land was in the country; but by 1888, PeUissier had
built the block that bears his name. On settling here, Pellissier
went into sheep-raising, scattering stock in Kern and Ventura
counties, and importing sheep from France and Australia in
order to improve his breed ; and from one ram alone in a year,
as he demonstrated to some doubting challengers, he clipped
sixty-two and a half pounds of wool.
P. Beaudry began to invest in hill property in 1867, at once
improving the steep hillside of New High Street, near Sonora
Town, which he bought in, at sheriff's sale, for fifty-five dollars.
Afterward, Beaudry purchased some twenty acres between
Second, Fourth, Charity and Hill streets, for which he paid
five hundred and seventeen dollars ; and when he had subdivided
this into eighty lots, he cleared about thirty thousand dollars.
Thirty-nine acres, between Fourth and Sixth, and Pearl and
Charity streets, he finally disposed of at a profit, it is said, of
over fifty thousand dollars.
John G. Downey having subdivided Nieto's rancho, Santa
Gertrudis, the little town of Downey, which he named, soon
enjoyed such a boom that sleepy Los Angeles began to sit up
and take notice. Among the early residents was E. M. Sanford,
a son-in-law of' General John W. Gordon, of Georgia. A short
time before the founding of Downey, a small place named
Galatin had been started near by, but the flood of 1868 caused
our otherwise dry rivers to change their courses, and Galatin was
washed away. This subdividing at once stimulated the com-
ing of land and home-seekers, increased the spirit of enterprise
and brought money into circulation.
1868] "Removal to New York, and Return 363
Soon afterward, .Phineas Banning renewed the agitation to
connect Los Angeles with Wilmington by rail. He petitioned
the County to assist the enterprise, but the larger taxpayers,
backed by the over-conservative farmers, still opposed
the scheme, tooth and nail, until it finally took all of Ban-
ning's influence to carry the project through to a successful
termination.
George S. Patton, whose father, Colonel Patton of the
Confederate Army, was killed at Winchester, September 19th,
1864, is a nephew of Andrew Glassell and the oldest of
four children who came to Los Angeles with their mother
and her father, Andrew Glassell, Sr., in 1867. Educated in
the pubhc schools of Los Angeles, Patton afterward attended
the Virginia Military Institute, where Stonewall Jackson
had been a professor, returning to Los Angeles in September,
1877, when he entered the law firm of Glassell, Smith &
Patton. In 1884, he married Miss Ruth, youngest daughter
of B. D. Wilson, after which he retired to private life. One of
Patton's sisters married Tom Brown; another sister became the
wife of the popular physician, Dr. W. Le Moyne Wills. In
1 87 1, his mother, relict of Colonel George S. Patton, married
her kinsman. Colonel George H. Smith.
John Moran, Sr., conducted a vineyard on San Pedro Street
near the present Ninth, in addition to which he initiated the
soda-water business here, selling his product at twenty-five
cents a bottle. Soda water, however, was too "soft" a drink
to find much favor and little was done to establish the trade
on a firm basis until 1867, when H. W. Stoll, a German, drove
from Colorado to California and organized the Los Angeles Soda
Water Works. As soon as he began to manufacture the
aerated beverages, Stevens & Wood set up the first soda-
water fountain in Los Angeles, on North Spring Street near
the Post Office. After that, bubbling water and strangely-
colored syrups gained in popularity until, in 1876, quite an
expensive fountain was purchased by Preuss & Pironi's drug
store, on Spring Street opposite Court. And what is more,
they brought in hogsheads from Saratoga what would be dif-
364 Sixty Years in Southern California [1867-
ficult to find in all Los Angeles to-day: Congress, Vichy and
Kissingen waters. Stoll, by the way, in 1873, married Fraulein
Louisa Behn, daughter of John Behn.
An important industry of the late sixties and early seventies
was the harvesting of castor beans, then growing wild along the
zanjas. They were shipped to San Francisco for manufacturing
purposes, the oil factories there both supplying the ranchmen
with seed and pledging themselves to take the harvest when
gathered. In 1867, a small castor-oil mill was set up here.
The chilicothe — derived, according to Charles F. Lummis,
from the Aztec, chilacayote, the wild cucumber, or echinocystes
fabacea — is the name of a plaything supplied by diversified na-
ture, which grew on large vines, especially along the slope
leading down to the river on what is now Elysian Park, and in
the neighborhood of the hills adjacent to the Mallard and
Nichols places. Four or five of these chilicothes, each shaped
much like an irregular marble, came in a small burr or gourd ;
and to secure them for games, the youngsters risked limb,
if not life, among the trees and rocks. Small circular holes
were sometimes cut into the nuts; and after the meat, which
was not edible, had been extracted, the empty shells were
strung together like beads and presented, as necklaces and
bracelets, to sisters and sweethearts.
Just about the time when I first gazed upon the scattered
houses of our little pueblo, the Pacific Railway Expedition, sent
out from Washington, prepared and published a tinted litho-
graph sketch of Los Angeles, now rather rare. In 1867, Stephen
A. Rendall, an Englishman of Angora goat fame, who had been
here, off and on, as a photographer, devised one of the first
large panoramas of Los Angeles, which he sold by advance
subscription. It was made in sections ; and as the only view
of that year extant, it also has become notable as an historical
souvenir.
Surrounded by his somewhat pretentious gallery and his
mysterious darkroom on the top floor of Temple's new block,
V. Wolfenstein also took good, bad and indifferent photo-
graphs, having arrived here, perhaps, in the late sixties, and
1868] Removal to New York, and Return 365
remaining a decade or more, until his return to his native
Stockholm where I again met him. He operated with slow
wet-plates, and pioneers will remember the inconvenience,
almost tantamount to torture, to which the patron was sub-
jected in sitting out an exposure. The children of pioneers,
too, will recall his magic, revolving stereoscope, filled with
fascinating views at which one peeped through magnifying
glasses.
Louis Lewin must have arrived here in the late sixties.
Subsequently, he bought out the stationery business of W. J.
Brodrick, and P. Lazarus, upon his arrival from Tucson in 1874,
entered into partnership with him; Samuel Hellman, as was
not generally known at the time, also having an interest in the
firm which was styled Louis Lewin & Company. When the
Centennial of the United States was celebrated here in 1876, a
committee wrote a short historical sketch of Los Angeles; and
this was published by Lewin & Company. Now the firm is known
as the Lazarus Stationery Company, P. Lazarus' being Presi-
dent. Lewin and Lazarus married into families of pioneers:
Mrs. Lewin is a daughter of S. Lazard, while Mrs. Lazarus is a
daughter of M. Kremer. Lewin died at Manilla on April 5th,
1905.
On November 18th, the Common Council contracted with
Jean Louis Sainsevain to lay some five thousand feet of two-
and three-inch iron pipe at a cost of about six thousand dollars
in scrip ; but the great flood of that winter caused Sainsevain so
many failures and losses that he transferred his lease, in the
spring or summer of 1868, to Dr. J. S. Griffin, Prudent Beaudry,
and Solomon Lazard, who completed Sainsevain's contract
with the City.
Dr. Grifiin and his associates then proposed to lease the
water- works from the City for a term of fifty years, but soon
changed this to an offer to buy. When the matter came up
before the Council for adoption, there was a tie vote, where-
upon Murray Morrison, just before resigning as President of
the Council, voted in the affirmative, his last official act being
' Died on September 30th, 1914.
366 Sixty Years in Southern California [1867-
to sign the franchise. Mayor Aguilar, however, vetoed the
ordinance, and then Dr. Griffin and his colleagues came forward
with a new proposition. This was to lease the works for a
period of thirty years, and to pay fifteen hundred dollars a year
in addition to performing certain things promised in the pre-
ceding proposition.
At this stage of the negotiations, John Jones made a
rival offer, and P. McFadden, who had been an unsuccess-
ful bidder for the Sainsevain lease, tried with Juan Bernard
to enter into a twenty-year contract. Notwithstanding these
other offers, however, the City authorities thought it best,
on July 22d, 1868, to vote the franchise to Dr. Griffin, S.
Lazard and P. Beaudry, who soon transferred their thirty-
year privileges to a corporation known as the Los Angeles City
Water Company, in which they became trustees. Others
associated in this enterprise were Eugene Meyer, I. W. Hell-
man, J. G. Downey, A. J. King, Stephen Hathaway Mott —
Tom's brother — W. H. Perry and Charles Lafoon. A spirited
fight followed the granting of the thirty-year lease, but the
water company came out victorious.
In the late sixties, when the only communities of much con-
sequence in Los Angeles County were Los Angeles, Anaheim
and Wilmington, the latter place and Anaheim Landing were
the shipping ports of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Arizona.
At that time, or during some of the especially prosperous days
of Anaheim, the slough at Anaheim Landing (since filled up by
flood) was so formed, and of such depth, that heavily-loaded
vessels ran past the warehouse to a considerable distance inland,
and there unloaded their cargoes. At the same time the leading
Coast steamers began to stop there. Not many miles away
was the corn-producing settlement, Gospel Swamp.
I have pointed out the recurring weakness in the wooden
pipes laid by Sainsevain and Marchessault. This distressing
difficulty, causing, as it did, repeated losses and sharp criticism
by the public, has always been regarded as the motive for ex-
Mayor Marchessault's death on January 20th, when he com-
mitted suicide in the old City Council room.
1868] Removal to New York, and Return 367
Jacob Loew arrived in America in 1865 and spent three
years in New York before he came to CaHfornia in 1868. Clerk-
ing for a while in San Francisco, he went to the Old Town of
San Diego, then to Galatin, and in 1872 settled in Downey;
and there, in conjunction with Jacob Baruch, afterward of
Haas, Baruch & Company, he conducted for years the princi-
pal general merchandise business of that section. On coming to
Los Angeles in 1883, he bought, as I have said, the Deming
Mill now known as the Capitol Mills. Two years later, on the
second of August, he was married to my daughter Emily.
Dr. Joseph Kurtz, once a student at Giessen, arrived in Los
Angeles on February 3d, with a record for hospital service at
Baltimore during the Civil War, having been induced to come
here by the druggist, Adolf Junge, with whom for a while he had
some association. Still later he joined Dr. Rudolph Eichler in
conducting a pharmacy. For some time prior to his graduation
in medicine, in 1872, Dr. Kurtz had an office in the Lanfranco
Building. For many years, he wa^ surgeon to the Southern
Pacific Railroad Company and consulting physician to the
Santa Fe Railroad Company, and he also served as President
of the Los Angeles College Clinical Association. I shall have
further occasion to refer to this good friend. Dr. Carl Kurtz
is distinguishing himself in the profession of his father.
Hale fellow well met and always in favor with a large circle,
was my Teutonic friend, Lewis Ebinger, who, after coming
to Los Angeles in 1868, turned clay into bricks. Perhaps this
also recalled the days of his childhood when he made pies of the
same material; but be that as it may, Lewis in the early
seventies made his first venture in the bakery business, opening
shop on North Spring Street. In the bustling Boom days
when real estate men saw naught but the sugar-coating,
Ebinger, who had moved to elaborate quarters in a building at
the southwest corner of Spring and Third streets, was dispen-
sing cream puffs and other baked delicacies to an enthusiastic
and unusually large clientele. But since everybody then
had money, or thought that he had, one such place was not
enough to satisfy the ravenous speculators; with the result
368 Sixty Years in Southern California [1867-
that John Koster was soon conducting a similar establishment
on Spring Street near Second, while farther north, on Spring
Street near First, the Vienna Bakery ran both Lewis and John
a merry race.
Dr. L. W. French, one of the organizers of the Odontological
Society of Southern California, also came to Los Angeles in 1868
■ — so early that he found but a couple of itinerant dentists, who
made their headquarters here for a part of the year and then
hung out their shingles in other towns or at remote ranches.
One day in the spring of 1868, while I was residing in New
York City, I received a letter from Phineas Banning, accom-
panied by a sealed communication, and reading about as follows :
Dear Harris:
Herewith I enclose to you a letter of the greatest im-
portance, addressed to Miss Mary Hollister (daughter, as you
know, of Colonel John H. Hollister), who will soon be on her
way to New York, and who may be expected to arrive there by
the next steamer.
This letter I beg you to deliver to Miss Hollister personally,
immediately upon her arrival in New York, thereby obliging
Yours obediently,
(Signed) Phineas Banning.
The steamer referred to had not yet arrived, and I lost
no time in arranging that I should be informed, by the company's
agents, of the vessel's approach, as soon as it was sighted.
This notification came, by the by, through a telegram received
before daylight one bitterly cold morning, when I was told that
the ship would soon be at the dock; and as quickly as I could,
I procured a carriage, hastened to the wharf and, before any
passengers had landed, boarded the vessel. There I sought
out Miss Hollister, a charming lady, and gave her the
rnysterious missive.
I thought no more of this matter until I returned to Los
Angeles when, welcoming me back. Banning told me that the
letter I had had the honor to deliver aboard ship in New York
contained nothing less than a proposal of marriage, his solicita-
tion of Miss Hollister's heart and hand!
i868] Removal to New York, and Return 369
One reason why the Bella Union played such an important
rdle in the early days of Los Angeles, was because there was no
such thing as a high-class restaurant ; indeed, the first recollec-
tion I have of anything like a satisfactory place is that of Louis
Vielle, known by some as French Louis and nicknamed by
others Louis Gordo, or Louis the Fat. Vielle came to Los
Angeles from Mexico, a fat, jolly little French caterer, not
much over five feet in height and weighing, I should judge,
two hundred and fifty pounds ; and this great bulk, supported
as it was by two peg-like legs, rendered his appearance truly
comical. His blue eyes, light hair and very rosy cheeks accen-
tuated his ludicrous figure. Louis, who must have been about
fifty -four years of age when I first met him, then conducted his
establishment in John Lanfranco's building on Main Street,
between Commercial and Requena; from which fact the place
was known as the Lanfranco, although it subsequently received
the more suggestive title, the What Cheer House. Louis was
an acknowledged expert in his art, but he did not always choose
to exert himself. Nevertheless his lunches, for which he
charged fifty or seventy-five cents, according to the number of
dishes served, were well thought of, and it is certain that Los
Angeles had never had so good a restaurant before. At one
time, our caterer's partner was a man named Frederico Guiol,
whom he later bought out. Louis could never master the
English language, and to his last day spoke with a strong
French accent. His florid cheeks were due to the enormous
quantity of claret consumed both at and between meals. He
would mix it with soup, dip his bread into it and otherwise
absorb it in large quantities. Indeed, at the time of his fatal
illness, while he was Uving with the family of Don Louis Sain-
sevain, it was assumed that over-indulgence in wine was the
cause. Be that as it may, he sickened and died, passing away
at the Lanfranco home in 1872. Vielle had prospered, but
during his sickness he spent largely of his means. After his
death, it was discovered that he had been in the habit of hiding
his coin in little niches in the wall of his room and in other
secret places ; and only a small amount of the money was found.
370 Sixty Years in Southern California [1867-
A few of the real pioneers recollect Louis Gordo as one who
added somewhat to the comfort of those who then patronized
restaurants ; while others will associate him with the introduction
here of the first French dolls, to take the place of rag-babies.
Both Judge Robert Maclay Widney and Dr. Joseph P,
Widney, the surgeon, took up their residence in Los Angeles in
1868. R. M. Widney set out from Ohio about 1855 and, having
spent two years in exploring the Rockies, worked for a while in
the Sacramento Valley, where he chopped wood for a living, and
finally reached Los Angeles with a small trunk and about a
hundred dollars in cash. Here he opened a law and real-estate
office and started printing the Real Estate Advertiser. Dr.
Widney crossed the Continent in 1862, spent two years as sur-
geon in the United States Army in Arizona, after which he
proceeded to Los Angeles and soon became one of the charter
members of the Los Angeles Medical Society, exerting himself
in particular to extend Southern California's climatic fame.
I have spoken of the ice procured from the San Bernardino
mountains in rather early days, but I have not said that in
summer, when we most needed the cooling commodity, there
was none to be had. The enterprising firm of Queen & Gard,
the first to arrange for regular shipments of Truckee River ice
in large quantities by steamer from the North, announced their
purpose late in March, 1 868, of building an ice house on Main
Street ; and about the first of April they began delivering daily,
in a large and substantial wagon especially constructed for that
purpose and which, for the time being, was an object of much
curiosity. Liberal support was given the enterprise ; and per-
haps it is no wonder that the perspiring editor of the News,
going into ecstasies because of a cooling sample or two deposited
in his office, said, in the next issue of his paper:
The founding of an ice depot is another step forward in the
progress that is to make us a great City. We have Water and
Gas, and now we are to have the additional luxury of Ice !
Banning's fight for the Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad
has been touched upon more than once. Tomlinson, his rival.
Dr. Truman H. Rose
Andrew Glassell
Dr. Vincent Gelcich
Charles E. Miles, in Uniform of 38's
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American Bakery, Jake Kuhrts's BuUding, about 1880
1868] Removal to New York, and Return 371
opposed the project ; but his sudden death, about two weeks
before the election in 1868, removed one of the serious obstacles.
When the vote was taken, on March 24th, as to whether the
City and County should bond themselves to encourage the build-
ing of the railroad, seven hundred votes were cast in favor of,
and six hundred and seventy-two votes against, the under-
taking, leaving Banning and his associates ready to go ahead.
By the way, as a reminder of the quondam vogue of Spanish
here, it may be noted that the proclamation regarding the rail-
road, published in 1868, was printed in both English and
Spanish.
On May i6th, Henry Hamilton, whose newspaper, the Star,
during part of the War period had been suspended through
the censorship of the National Government, again made his
bow to the Los Angeles public, this time in a half-facetious
leader in which he referred to the "late unpleasantness" in
the family circle. Hamilton's old-time vigor was immediately
recognized, but not his former disposition to attack and criticize.
Dr. H. S. Orme, once President of the State Board of Health
of California, arrived in Los Angeles on July 4th and soon
became as prominent in Masonic as in medical circles. Dr.
Harmon, an early successor to Drs. Griffin and Den, first settled
here in 1868, although he had previously visited California in
1853.
Carl Felix Heinzeman, at one time a well-known chemist and
druggist, emigrated from Germany in 1868 and came direct
to Los Angeles, where after succeeding J. B. Saunders & Com-
pany, he continued, in the Lanfranco Building, what grew to be
the largest drug store south of San Francisco. Heinzeman died
on April 29th, 1903. About the same period, a popular apothe-
cary shop on Main Street, near the Plaza, was known as
Chevalier's. In the seventies, when hygiene and sanitation were
given more attention, a Welshman named Hughes conducted
a steam-bath establishment on Main Street, almost opposite
the Baker Block, and the first place of its kind in the city.
Charles F. Harper' of Mississippi, and the father of ex-
I Died on September 13th, 191 5.
372 Sixty Years in Southern California [1867-
Mayor Harper, in 1868 opened with R. H. Dalton a hardware
store in the Allen Block, corner of Spring and Temple streets,
thus forerunning Coulter & Harper, Harper & Moore, Harper,
Reynolds & Company and the Harper-Reynolds Company.
Michel Levy, an Alsatian, arrived in San Francisco when
but seventeen years of age, and after various experiences in
California and Nevada towns, he came to Los Angeles in 1868,
soon establishing, with Joe Coblentz, the wholesale liquor house
of Levy & Coblentz. The latter left here in 1879, and Levy
continued under the farm name of M. Levy & Company until
his death in 1905.
Anastacio Cardenas, a dwarf who weighed but one and
a half pounds when born, came to Los Angeles in 1867 and
soon appeared before the public as a singer and dancer. He
carried a sword and was popularly dubbed "General." A
brother, Ruperto, long lived here.
When the Canal & Reservoir Company was organized with
George Hansen as President and J. J. Warner as Secretary,
P. Beaudry contributed heavily to construct a twenty-foot dam
across the canon, below the present site of Echo Park, and a
ditch leading down to Pearl Street. This first turned atten-
tion to the possibilities in the hill-lands to the West; and in
return, the City gave to the company a large amount of land,
popularly designated as canal and reservoir property.
In 1868, when there was still not a three-story house in Los
Angeles, James Alvinza Hayward, a San Franciscan, joined
John G. Downey in providing one hundred thousand dollars with
which to open, in the old Downey Block on the site of the
Temple adobe, the first bank in Los Angeles, under the firm
name of Hayward & Company. The lack of business afforded
this enterprise short shrift and they soon retired. In July of
the same year, I. W. Hellman, William Workman, F. P. F.
Temple and James R. Toberman started a bank, with a capital
of one hundred and twenty -five thousand dollars, under the title
of Hellman, Temple & Company, Hellman becoming manager.
I do not remember when postal lock-boxes were first brought
into use, but I do recollect that in the late sixties Postmaster
i868] Removal to New York, and Return 373
Clarke had a great deal of trouble collecting quarterly rents,
and that he finally gave notice that boxes held by delinquents
would thereafter be nailed up.
A year or two after the Burtons had established themselves
here, came another pedagogue in the person of W. B. Lawlor,
a thick-set, bearded man with a flushed complexion, who
opened a day-school called the Lawlor Institute ; and after the
Burtons left here to settle at Portland, Oregon, where Burton
became headmaster of an academy for advanced students,
many of his former pupils attended Lawlor's school. The
two institutions proved quite different in type: the Burton
training had tended strongly to languages and literature, while
Lawlor, who was an adept at short-cut methods of calculation,
placed more stress on arithmetic and commercial education.
Burton, who returned to Los Angeles, has been for years a
leading member of the Times editorial staff, and Burton's Book
on California and its Sunlit Skies is one of this author's contri-
butions to Pacific Coast literature ; his wife, however, died many
years ago. Lawlor, who was President of the Common Council
in 1880, is also dead.
The most popular piano-teacher of about that time was
Professor Van Gilpin.
William Pridham came to Los Angeles in August, having
been transferred from the San Francisco office of Wells Fargo
& Company, in whose service as pony rider, clerk at Austin,
Nevada, and at Sacramento, and cashier in the Northern me-
tropolis he had been for some ten years. Here he succeeded
Major J. R. Toberman, when the latter, after long service,
resigned; and with a single office-boy, at one time little Joe
Binford, he handled all the business committed to the com-
pany's charge. John Osborn was the outside expressman.
Then most of the heavy express matter from San Francisco was
carried by steamers, but letters and Hmited packages of moment
were sent by stage. With the advent of railroads, Pridham
was appointed by Wells Fargo & Company Superintendent of
the Los Angeles district. On June 12th, 1880, he married Miss
Mary Esther, daughter of Colonel John 0. Wheeler, and later
374 Sixty Years in Southern California [1867-
moved to Alameda. Now, after fifty-one years of association
with the express business, Pridham still continues to be
officially connected with the Wells Fargo company.
Speaking of that great organization, reminds me that it con-
ducted for years a mail-carrying business. Three-cent stamped
envelopes, imprinted with Wells Fargo & Company's name,
were sold to their patrons for ten cents each; and to com-
pensate for this bonus, the Company delivered the letters en-
trusted to them perhaps one to two hours sooner than did the
Government.
This recalls to me a familiar experience on the arrival of the
mail from the North. Before the inauguration of a stage-line,
the best time in the transmission of mail matter between San
Francisco and Los Angeles was made by water, and Wells
Fargo messengers sailed with the steamers. Immediately upon
the arrival of the boat at San Pedro, the messenger boarded
the stage, and as soon as he reached Los Angeles, pressed on
to the office of the Company, near the Bella Union, where he
delivered his bagful of letters. The steamer generally got in by
five o'clock in the morning; and many a time, about seven,
have I climbed Signal or Pound Cake Hill — higher in those days
than now, and affording in clear weather a view of both ocean
and the smoke of the steamer — upon whose summit stood a
house, used as a signal station, and there watched for the rival
stages, the approach of which was indicated by clouds of dust.
I would then hurry with many others to the Express Company's
office where, as soon as the bag was emptied, we would all help
ourselves unceremoniously to the mail.
In August, General Edward Bouton, a Northern Army
officer, came to Los Angeles and soon had a sheep ranch on
Boyle Heights — a section then containing but two houses ; and
two years later he camped where Whittier now lies. In 1874, he
bought land for pasture in the San Jacinto Valley, and for
years owned the ocean front at Alamitos Bay from Devil's Gate
to the Inlet, boring artesian wells there north of Long Beach.
Louis Robidoux, who had continued to prosper as a ranchero,
died in 1868 at the age of seventy-seven years.
1868] Removal to New York, and Return 375
With the usual flourish of spades, if not of trumpets, ground
was broken for the Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad at
Wilmington on September 19th, and toward the end of
November, the rails had been laid about a mile out from
Wilmington.
The last contract for carrying the Overland Mail was given
to Wells Fargo & Company on October ist and pledged a
round remuneration of one miUion, seven hundred and fifty
thousand dollars per annum, while it also permitted passengers
and freight to be transported ; but the Company came to have a
great deal of competition. Phineas Banning, for example, had
a stage-line between Los Angeles and Yuma, in addition to which
mail and passengers were carried in buckboards, large wagons
and jerkies. Moreover there was another stage-line between
Tucson and El Paso, and rival stage-lines between El Paso and
St. Louis; and in consequence, the Butterfield service was
finally abandoned.
This American vehicle, by the by, the jerky, was so named
for the very good reason that, as the wagon was built without
springs, it jerked the rider around unmercifully. Boards were
laid across the wagon-box or bed for seats, accommodating
four passengers ; and some space was provided in the back for
baggage. To maintain one's position in the bumping, squeak-
ing vehicle at all, was difficult ; while to keep one's place on the
seat approached the impossible.
Of the various Los Angeles roadways in 1868, West
Sixth Street was most important in its relation to travel.
Along this highway the daily Overland stages entered and
departed from the city; and by this route came all the Havilah,
Lone Pine, Soledad and Owens River trade, as well as that of
the Ballona and Cienega districts. Sixth Street also led to the
Fair Grounds, and over its none too even surface dashed most
of the sports and gallants on their way to the race course.
I have said that I returned to New York, in 1867, presum-
ably for permanent residence. Soon after I left Los Angeles,
however, Samuel Cohn became desperately ill, and the sole
management of H. Newmark & Company suddenly devolved
376 Sixty Years in Southern California [1867-
on Sam's brother Kaspare. This condition of affairs grew so
bad that my return to Los Angeles became imperative. Ac-
cordingly, leaving my family, I took passage on October 31st,
1868, for San Francisco, and returned to Los Angeles without
delay. Then I wired my wife to start with the children for the
Coast, and to have the furniture, including a Chickering grand
piano, just purchased, shipped after them; and when they
arrived, we once more took possession of the good old adobe
on Main Street, where we lived contentedly until 1874. This
piano, by the way, which came by freight around Cape Horn,
was one of the first instruments of the kind seen here, John
Schumacher having previously bought one. While we were
living in New York, Edward J. Newmark, my wife's brother,
died here on February 17th, 1868.
Before I left for New York, hardly anything had been done,
in subdividing property, save perhaps by the Lugos and
Downey, and at Anaheim and Wilmington. During the time
that I was away, however, newspapers and letters from home
indicated the changes going on here; and I recall what an
impression all this made upon me. On my way down from
San Francisco on Captain Johnson's Orizaba in December —
about the same time that the now familiar locomotive San
Gabriel reached Wilmington — land-agents were active and
people were talking a great deal about these subdivisions ; and
by the time I reached Los Angeles I, too, was considerably
stirred up over the innovations and as soon as possible
after my return hastened out to see the change. The im-
provements were quite noticeable, and among other alterations
surprising me were the houses people had begun to build on the
approaches to the western hills. I was also to learn that
there was a general demand for property all over the city.
Colonel Charles H. Larrabee, City Attorney in 1868, especially
having bought several hundred feet on Spring and Fort streets.
Later, I heard of the experiences of other Angelenos aboard
ship who were deluged with circulars advertising prospective
towns.
To show the provincial character of Los Angeles fifty years
i868] Removal to New York, and Return zil
ago, I will add an anecdote or two. While I was in New York,
members of my family reported by letter, as a matter of ex-
traordinary interest, the novelty of a silver name-plate on a
neighboring front door; and when I was taken to inspect it, a
year later, I saw the legend, still novel :
CW«. a^nt/ OM'td. ^uacTie QMeyei
In the metropolis I had found finger-bowls in common use,
and having brought back with me such a supply as my family
would be likely to need, I discovered that it had actually fallen
to my lot to introduce these desirable conveniences into Los
Angeles.
William Ferguson was an arrival of 1868, having come
to settle up the business of a brother and remaining to open a
livery stable on North Main Street near the Plaza, which he
conducted for ten years. Investing in water company stock,
Ferguson abandoned his stable to make water-pipes, a couple
of years later, perhaps, than J. F. Holbrook had entered the
same field. Success enabled Ferguson to build a home at 303
South Hill Street, where he found himself the only resident
south of Third.
This manufacture here of water pipe recalls a cordial ac-
quaintance with William Lacy, Sr., an Englishman, who was
interested with William Rowland in developing the Puente oil
fields. His sons, William, Jr., and Richard H., originators of
the Lacy Manufacturing Company, began making pipe and
tanks a quarter of a century ago.
C. R. Rinaldi started a furniture business here in 1868,
opening his store almost opposite the Stearns's home on North
Main Street. Before long he disposed of an interest to Charles
Dotter, and then, I think, sold out to I. W. Lord and moved to
the neighborhood of the San Fernando Mission. About the same
time, Sidney Lacey, who arrived in 1870 and was a popular
clerk with the pioneer carpet and wall-paper house of Smith
& Walter, commenced what was to be a long association with
this establishment. In 1876, C. H. Bradley bought out Lord,
378 Sixty Years in Southern California [1867-1868]
and the firm of Dotter & Bradley, so well known to householders
of forty years ago, came into existence. In 1884, H. H. Mark-
ham (soon to be Congressman and then Governor of the State) ,
with General E. P. Johnson bought this concern and organized
the Los Angeles Furniture Company, whose affairs since 1910,
(when her husband died), have been conducted by the
President, Mrs. Katherine Fredericks.
Conrad Hafen, a German-Swiss, reached Los Angeles in
December, 1868, driving a six-horse team and battered wagon
with which he had braved the privations of Death Valley; and
soon he rented a little vineyard, two years later buying for the
same purpose considerable acreage on what is now Central
Avenue. Rewarded for his husbandry with some affluence,
Hafen built both the old Hafen House and the new on South
Hill Street, once a favorite resort for German arrivals. He re-
tired in 1905.
CHAPTER XXVI
THE CERRO GORDO MINES
1869
IT was early in 1869 that I was walking down Spring Street
one day and saw a crowd at the City Hall. On a large box
stood Mayor Joel H. Turner, and just as I arrived a man
leaning against the adobe wall called out, "Seven dollars!"
The Mayor then announced the bid — for an auction was in
progress — " Seven dollars once, seven dollars twice, seven dollars
three times!" and as he raised his hand to conclude the sale, I
called out, "A half!" This I did in a spirit of fun; in fact, I
did not even know what was being offered! "Seven dollars
fifty once, seven dollars fifty twice, seven dollars fifty three
times, and sold — to Harris Newmark!" called the Mayor. I
then inquired what I had bought, and was shown the location
of about twenty acres, a part of nine hundred being sold by
the City at prices ranging from five to ten dollars an acre.
The piece purchased was west of the city limits, and I kept
it until 1886 when I had almost forgotten that I was the owner.
Then George Williamson, one of the first salesmen of H.
Newmark & Company, who became a boomer of the period,
bought it from me for ten thousand dollars and resold it within
two weeks for fourteen thousand, the Sunset Oil Company
starting there, as the land was within what was known as the
oil district. Since the opening of streets in all directions, I have
lost trace of this land, but incline to the belief that it lies in
the immediate vicinity of the Wilshire district.
My experience reminds me of Colonel John O. Wheeler's
379
38o Sixty Years in Southern California [1869
investment in fifty or sixty acres at what is now Figueroa and
Adams streets. Later, going to San Francisco as a Customs
officer, he forgot about his purchase until one day he received
a somewhat surprising offer.
On January ist, A. J. King and R. H. Offutt began to pub-
lish a daily edition of the News, hitherto a semi-weekly, making
it strongly Democratic. There was no Sunday issue and
twelve dollars was the subscription. On October i6th, Offutt
sold his interest to Alonzo Waite, and the firm became King
& Waite. In another year King had retired.
How modest was the status of the Post Office in 1869 may
be gathered from the fact that the Postmaster had only one
assistant, a boy, both together receiving fourteen hundred
dollars in greenbacks, worth but a thousand dollars in gold.
Henry Hammel, for years connected with the Bella Union,
and a partner named Bremerman leased the United States
Hotel on February ist from Louis Mesmer; and in March, John
King succeeded Winston & King as manager of the Bella Union.
King died in December, 1871.
In the winter of 1868-69, when heavy rains seriously
interfered with bringing in the small supply of lumber at San
Pedro, a cooperative society was proposed, to insure the
importation each summer of enough supplies to tide the com-
munity over during the wintry weather. Over one hundred
persons, it was then estimated, had abandoned building, and
many others were waiting for material to complete fences
and repairs.
Thanks to Contractor H. B. Tichenor's vigor in constructing
the Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad, public interest in the
venture, by the beginning of 1869, had materially increased.
In January, a vessel arrived with a locomotive and a steam
pile-driver; and a few days later a schooner sailed into San
Pedro with ties, sleepers and rails enough for three miles of the
track. Soon, also, the locomotive was running part of the way.
The wet winter made muddy roads, and this led to the pro-
posal to lay the tracks some eight or ten miles in the direction of
Los Angeles, and there to transfer the freight to wagons.
i869] The Cerro Gordo Mines 381
Steams Hall and the Plaza were amusement places in 1869.
At the latter, in January, the so-called Paris Exposition Circus
held forth ; while Joe Murphy and Maggie Moore, who had just
favored the passengers on the Orizaba, on coming south from
San Francisco, with a show, trod the hall's more classic boards.
Ice a quarter of an inch thick was formed here for several
days during the third week in January, and butchers found
it so difficult to secure fat cattle that good beef advanced to
sixteen and a quarter cents a pound.
On January 20th, I purchased from Eugene Meyer the
southern half of lots three and four in block five, fronting on
Fort Street between Second and Third, formerly owned by
William Buffum and J. F. Bums. Meyer had paid one thou-
sand dollars for one hundred and twenty feet front and three
hundred and thirty feet depth ; and when I bought half of this
piece for one thousand dollars, it was generally admitted that I
had paid all that it was worth.
Isaac Lankershim — father of J. B. Lankershim and Mrs.
I. N. Van Nuys — who first visited Califoma in 1854, came from
San Francisco in 1869 and bought, for one hundred and fifteen
thousand dollars, part of Andres Pico's vSan Fernando rancho,
which he stocked with sheep. Levi Strauss & Company,
Scholle Brothers, L. and M. Sachs & Company of San Francisco
and others, were interested in this partnership, then known as
the San Fernando Farm Association; but Lankershim was
in control until about one year later, when Isaac Newton Van
Nuys arrived from Monticello, where he had been merchan-
dising, and was put permanently in charge of the ranch. At this
period Lankershim lived there, for he had not yet undertaken
milling in Los Angeles. A little later, Lankershim and Van
Nuys successfully engaged in the raising of wheat, cultivating
nearly sixty thousand acres, and consigning some of their har-
vests to Liverpool. This fact recalls a heavy loss in the spring
of 1 88 1, when the Parisian, which left Wilmington under Cap-
tain Reaume, foundered at sea with nearly two hundred and
fifty tons of wheat and about seventy-five tons of flour belong-
ing to them.
382 Sixty Years in Southern California [1869
J. B. Lankershim, owner of the well-known hotel bearing
his name, after the death of his father made some very im-
portant investments in Los Angeles real estate, including the
northwest corner of Broadway and Seventh Street, now occu-
pied by the building devoted to Bullock's department store.
M. N. Newmark, a nephew of mine and President of the
Newmark Grain Company, arrived in 1869, and clerked for H.
Newmark & Company until 1 871, in which year he established
a partnership with S. Grand in Compton, selling general mer-
chandise. This partnership lasted until 1878, when Newmark
bought out Grand. He finally disposed of the business in 1889
and, with D. K. Edwards, organized the firm of Newmark &
Edwards. In 1895 Edwards sold out his interest.
Victor Ponet, a native of Belgium, and once Belgian Con-
sul here, while traveling around the world, landed in Califor-
nia in 1867 and two years later came to Los Angeles.
Attracted by the climate and Southern California's possible
future, Ponet settled here, engaging first in the pioneer man-
ufacture and importation of mirrors and picture frames ; and
before his retirement to live in Sherman, he liad had experience
both as undertaker and banker. '
In 1869, General W. S. Rosecrans came south in the interest
of the proposed San Diego & Gila Railroad, never constructed.
The General, as a result, took up land around Sausal Redondo,
and there by the summer of 1869 so many people (who insisted
that Rosecrans had appropriated public land) had squatted,
that he was put to no end of trouble in ejecting them.
Though I have witnessed most of the progress in Southern
California, it is still difficult to realize that so much could have
been accomplished within the life-time of one man. During
1868-69 only twenty- two hundred boxes of oranges were
shipped from Los Angeles, while the Southern counties' crop of
oranges and lemons for 1913-14 is estimated, I am told, at
about twelve million boxes!
Due to the eight-day shindy marking the celebration of
the Chinese New Year, demand for a more concentrated rumpus
'Died, February 9th, 1914.
1869]
The Cerro Gordo Mines 383
was voiced in February, 1869, threatening an agitation against
John Chinaman.
The same month, residents, wishing a school in which Ger-
man should be taught, and a gymnasium, petitioned the Com-
mon Council to acquire a lot in New High Street for the purpose.
About 1869, the Los Angeles Social Club which, to the
best of my recollection, was the first of its kind in the city, was
organized, with headquarters in the earliest building erected by
I. W. Hellman, at the northwest comer of Los Angeles and
Commercial streets. Among other pioneer members were
Captain Cameron E. Thom, Tom Mott, Eugene Meyer, Sam
and Charles Prager, Tom Rowan, I. W. and H. W. Hellman,
S. Lazard, W. J. Brodrick, John Jones, Kaspare Cohn, A. C.
Chauvin, M. and J . L. Morris, Leon Loeb, Sam Meyer, Dr.
F.A. McDougal, B. Cohn and myself. Somewhat later, the
Club moved to the east side of Los Angeles Street, between
Commercial and Aliso. Still later, it dissolved; and although
it did not become the direct ancestor of any of the several well-
known social organizations in the Los Angeles of to-day, I feel
that it should be mentioned as having had the honor of being
their precursor and model.
Speaking of social organizations, I may say that several
Los Angeles clubs were organized in the early era of sympathy,
tolerance and good feeling, when the individual was appreci-
ated at his true worth and before the advent of men whose
bigotry has sown intolerance and discord, and has made a
mockery of both religion and professed ideals.
It must have been early in the sixties that Alexander Bell
sold the southern end of his property to H. Heinsch, the
saddler. On February 23d, 1869, the directors of the San
Pedro Railroad selected the Mike Madigan lot on Alameda
Street, on a part of which the owner was conducting a livery-
stable, as the site for the depot in Los Angeles ; and Heinsch
having allowed the authorities to cut through his property, the
extension of Commercial and Requena streets eastward from
Los Angeles to Alameda was hastened.
Late on February 14th, the news was circulated of a shock-
384 Sixty Years in Southern California [1869
ing tragedy in the billiard saloon of the Lafayette Hotel, and at
once aroused intense regret, affecting, as the affair did, the
standing and happiness of two well-known Los Angeles families.
About eight o'clock, Charles Howard, a young lawyer of
prominence and a son of Volney E. Howard, met Daniel B.
Nichols, son of the ex-Mayor; and some dispute between them
having reached its climax, both parties drew weapons and fired.
Howard was killed and Nichols wounded, though not fatally, as
was at first thought. The tragedy — the cause of which was
never generally known — made a profound impression.
The work of extending water mains along Fort, Spring and
other streets progressed steadily until the Los Angeles Water
Company struck a snag which again demonstrated the city's
dependence. Difficulty in coupling pipes called a halt, and the
management had to send all the way to San Francisco for a
complete set of plumbers' tools I
In the spring, Tileston, Emery & Company, a Los Angeles
and San Gabriel firm, brought south the first steam separator
seen here and took contracts to thrash the farmers' grain.
On June 3d they started the machine, and manypersons went out
to see it work. Among features pointed out were precautions
against fire from the engine, which the contractors declared
made "everything perfectly safe."
From its inception, Wilmington sought, in one way or
another, to rival Los Angeles, and in April threw down the
gauntlet. A. A. Polhamus, a workshop engineer of the Los
Angeles & San Pedro Railroad, (in 1887, a manufacturer of
straw wrapping paper somewhere between here and Wilming-
ton,) had built a velocipede; and no sooner was it noised
about than John Goller set to work to eclipse the achieve-
ment. About one o'clock, therefore, on April 25th one of
Goller's apprentices suddenly appeared ready to make the first
experiment. The streets were soon crowded and interest was
at fever heat. The young fellow straddled the wheels, moved
about half a block, and then, at the junction of Main and
Spring streets, executed a first-class somersault ! Immediately,
however, other intrepid ones tried their skill, and the velocipede
Loebau Market Place, near the House in which Harris Newmark was Born
«•
E, ffi -^
street in Loebau, Showing (right) Remnant of ancient City Wall
Robert M. Widney
Dr. Joseph Kuitz
Isaac N. Van Nuys
Abraham Haas
1869] The Cerro Gordo Mines • 385
was voted a successful institution of our young and progressive
city.
By the first week in May, the velocipede craze had spread,
crowds congregating daily on Main Street to see the antics of
the boys; and soon H. F. Laurence announced the opening
in Stearns's Hall, on May 14th, of a Velocipede School, where
free instruction would be given: afternoons to ladies and
evenings to men; and to further stimulate interest, Laurence
announced a raffle on May 15th of "a splendid velocipede."
By May 22d, J. Eastman had obtained permission of the Com-
mon Council to build a velocipede track on the historic old
Plaza; but evidently he did not make use of the privilege,
for a newspaper writer was soon giving vent to the following
sarcasm :
Our City Fathers tried to make a little coin by leasing the
Plaza as a velocipede circle or square; but, so far, the veloci-
pedist has failed to connect. I dare say the cost of cleaning
up the place of weeds backed the poor soul out !
It happened in 1869 that Judson, the financier, and Bel-
shaw, a practical miner, began working their lead mines in
Cerro Gordo, in the Owens River country ; and as the handling
of the ore necessitated a great many wagons, Remi Nadeau
obtained the contract for the transportation of the ore brought
down to Wilmington and then shipped by boat to San Francisco.
Remi had returned here about 1866, after having been in San
Francisco for four or five years; and eventually he built the
Nadeau Hotel at the corner of Spring and First streets, where
A. Bouelle, father of Frank A. Bouelle, had formerly kept a
little grocery store in an adobe. This ore was loaded on to very
large wagons, each drawn on level stretches by twelve or
fourteen mules, but requiring as many as twenty or more
mules while crossing the San Fernando Mountains — always
regarded as one of the worst places on the route. In order
not to return with empty wagons, Nadeau purchased supplies
of every description, which he sold to people along the route;
386 ■ Sixty Years in Southern California [1869
and in this way he obtained the best financial results. This
was about the same time that Victor Beaudry (Prudent's
brother, who came in 1855, to mine at San Gabriel) opened a
store at Camp Independence, Inyo County, and became a
stockholder in the Cerro Gordo mines. In the early eighties,
Beaudry was interested with his brother in local real estate
movements. He died in Montreal in 1888.
After a time, the mines yielded so much ore that Nadeau
found himself short of transportation facilities; but with the
assistance of Judson & Belshaw, as well as H. Newmark &
Company, he was enabled to increase his capacity until he
operated thirty-two teams. Los Angeles was then the south-
ern terminus of his operations, although, during the building
of the numerous Southern Pacific tunnels, his headquarters
were removed to San Fernando, and still later, on the com-
pletion of the railroad, to Mojave. Nadeau's assistant, Wil-
lard G. Halstead, son-in-law of H. K. W. Bent, handled most
of the business when Nadeau was absent; A. E. Lott was fore-
man of teams and continually rode up and down the line of
operations; while Thomas O'Brien was station-agent at Cerro
Gordo. The contract had been very profitable to Judson &
Belshaw; yet when the agreement expired on January ist, 1872,
they wished to renew it at a lower figure. Nadeau, believing
that no one else could do the work satisfactorily, refused the
new terms offered; whereupon Judson & Belshaw entered into
an arrangement with William Osborn, a liveryman, who owned a
few teams.
The season of 1871-72 was by no means a good one and
barley was high, involving a great expense to Nadeau in feeding
four or five hundred animals; and right there arose his chief
difficulty. He was in debt to H. Newmark & Company and
therefore proposed that he should turn his outfit over to us;
but as we had unlimited confidence both in his integrity and in
his ability, we prevailed on him to keep and use his equipment
to the best advantage. The suggestion was a fortunate one, for
just at this time large deposits of borax were discovered in the
mountains at Wordsworth, Nevada, and Nadeau commenced
i869] The Cerro Gordo Mines 387
operations there with every promise of success. In his work of
hauling between Cerro Gordo and Los Angeles, Nadeau had
always been very regular, his teams with rare exceptions arriv-
ing and leaving on schedule time ; and even when, occasionally,
a wagon did break down, the pig-lead would be unloaded with-
out delay, tossed to the side of the trail and left there for the
next train; a method that was perfectly safe, since thieves never
disturbed the property. Osborn, on the other hand, soon proved
uncertain and unreliable, his wagons frequently breaking down
and causing other accidents and delays. To protect themselves,
Judson & Belshaw were compelled to terminate their contract
with him and reopen negotiations with Nadeau ; but the latter
then rejected their advances unless they would buy a half-
interest in his undertaking and put up one hundred and fifty
thousand dollars for the construction and maintenance of the
numerous stations that had become necessary for the proper
development of his business. Nadeau also made it a condition
that H. Newmark & Company be paid. The stations already
constructed or proposed were Mud Springs, Lang's Station,
Mojave, Red Rock, Panamint, Indian Wells, Little Lake, Hai-
wee Meadows and Cartago. Before these were built, the
teamsters camped in the open, carrying with them the provisions
necessary for man and beast. Cartago was on the south side
of Owens Lake, Cerro Gordo being on the north side, eighteen
miles opposite; and between these points the miniature side-
wheeler Bessie, of but twenty tons capacity, operated.
An interesting fact or two in connection with Owens Lake
may be recorded here. Its water was so impregnated with
borax and soda that no animal life could be sustained. In the
winter, the myriads of wild duck were worth talking about;
but after they had remained near the lake for but a few days,
they were absolutely unpalatable. The teamsters and miners
operating in the vicinity were in the habit of sousing their
clothes in the lake for a few minutes, and when dried, the
garments were found to be as clean as if they had passed through
the most perfect laundry. Even a handful of the water applied
to the hair would produce a magnificent lather and shampoo.
388 Sixty Years in Southern California [i86p
Judson & Belshaw were compelled to accept Nadeau's terms;
and Nadeau returned from Nevada, organized in 1873 the
Cerro Gordo Freighting Company, and operated more exten-
sively than ever before until he withdrew, perhaps five years
after the completion of the Southern Pacific Railroad and just
before the petering out of the Cerro Gordo Mines. In their
palmy days, these deposits were the most extensive lead-produc-
ers of California ; and while the output might not have been so
remarkable in comparison with those of other lead mines in the
world, something like eighty-five to ninety bars, each weighing
about one hundred pounds, were produced there daily. Most
of this was shipped, as I have said, to San Francisco ; and for
a while, at least, from there to Swansea, Wales.
Nadeau at one time was engaged in the industrj'' of raising
sugar-beets at the Nadeau rancho, near Florence, now Nadeau
Station; and then he attempted to refine sugar. But it was
bad at best, and the more sugar one put in coffee, the blacker
the coffee became.
On April 24th, 1869, under Mayor Joel Turner's admin-
istration, the Los Angeles Board of Education came into
existence.
In the early sixties, the City authorities promised to set out
trees at the Plaza, providing neighboring property-owners would
fence in the place; but even though Governor Downey sup-
plied the fence, no trees were planted, and it was not until
the spring of 1869 that any grew on the public square. This
loud demand for trees was less for the sake of the usual benefits
than to hide the ugliness of the old water tank.
On May 9th, F. G. Walther issued the first number of
the Los Angeles Chronik, a German weekly journal that sur-
vived scarcely three months.
The tenth of May was another red-letter day for the
Pacific Coast, rejoicing, as it did, in the completion of the Cen-
tral Pacific at Promontory Point in Utah. There, with a silver
hammer. Governor Stanford drove the historic gold spike
into a tie of polished California laurel, thus consummating the
vast work on the first trans-continental railroad. This event
i869i The Cerro Gordo Mines 389
recalls the fact that, in the railway's construction, Chinese
labor was extensively employed, and that in 1869 large numbers
of the dead bodies of Celestials were gathered up and shipped
to Sacramento for burial.
William J. Brodrick, after wandering in Peru and Chile,
came to Los Angeles in 1869 and started as a stationer; then he
opened an insurance office, and still later became interested in
the Main Street Railway and the water company. On May
8th, 1877, Brodrick married Miss Laura E., daughter of Robert
S. CarUsle. On October i8th, 1898, Brodrick died, having
been identified with many important activities.
Hacks and omnibuses first came into use in 1869. Toward
the end of May of that year, J. J. Reynolds, who had long
been popular as a driver between Los Angeles and Wilming-
ton, purchased a hack and started in business for himself, ap-
pealing to his "reputation for good driving and reliability"
as a reasonable assurance that he would bring his patrons
right side up to their scattered homes; and so much was he in
demand, both in the city and its suburbs, that a competitor,
J. Hewitt, in the latter part of June ordered a similar hack to
come by steamer. It arrived in due time and was chronicled
as a "luxurious vehicle." Hewitt regularly took up his stand
in the morning in front of the Lafayette Hotel; and he also
had an order slate at George Butler's livery-stable on Main
Street.
During the sixties. Dr. T. H. Rose, who had relinquished
the practice of medicine for the career of a pedagogue, com-
menced work as Principal of the Boys' Grammar School on
Bath Street, and in 1869 was elected Superintendent of City
Schools. He held this office but about a year, although he did
not resign from educational work here until 1873. During his
incumbency, he was Vice-Principal of the first Teachers' In-
stitute ever held here, contributing largely toward the founding
of the first high school and the general development of the
schools prior to the time when Dr. Lucky, the first really pro-
fessional teacher, assumed charge. On leaving Los Angeles,
Dr. Rose became Principal of the school at Healdsburg, Sonoma
390 Sixty Years in Southern California [1869
County, where he married a Mrs. Jewell, the widow of an old-
time, wealthy miner; but he was too sensitive and proud to live
on her income and, much against her wishes, insisted on teach-
ing to support himself. In 1874, he took charge of the high
school at Petaluma, where the family of Mrs. Rose's first hus-
band had lived ; and the relationship of the two families proba-
bly lead to Rose and his wife separating. Later, Dr. Rose
went to the Sandwich Islands to teach, but by 1883, shortly
before he died, he was back in Los Angeles, broken in health
and spirit. Dr. Rose was an excellent teacher, a strict dis-
ciplinarian and a gentleman.
The retirement of Dr. Rose calls to mind a couple of years
during which Los Angeles had no City School Superintendent.
While Rose was Principal, a woman was in charge of the girls'
department ; and the relations between the schoolmaster and the
schoolmistress were none too friendly. When Dr. Rose became
Superintendent, the schoolma'am instantly disapproved of the
choice and rebelled; and there being no law which authorized
the governing^ of Los Angeles schools in any other manner than
by trustees, the new Superintendent had no authority over
his female colleague. The office of Superintendent of City
Schools, consequently, remained vacant until 1873.
Dr. James S. Crawford had the honor, as far as I am aware,
of being one of the first regular dentists to locate in Los Ange-
les. As an itinerant he had passed the winters of 1863, 1864
and 1865 in this city, afterward going east; and on his return
to California in 1869 he settled in the Downey Block at Spring
and Main streets, where he practiced until, on April 14th,
1912, he died in a Ventura County camp.
In 1864, the California Legislature, wishing to encourage the
silk industry, offered a bounty of two hundred and fifty dollars
for every plantation of five thousand mulberry trees of two years'
growth, and a bounty of three hundred dollars for each one
hundred thousand salable cocoons ; and in three years an enor-
mous number of mulberry trees, in various stages of growth, was
registered. Prominent among silk-growers was Louis Prevost,
who rather early had established here an extensive mulberry-
i869] The Cerro Gordo Mines 391
tree nursery and near it a large cocoonery for the rearing
of silk worms; and had planned, in 1869, the creation of a
colony of silk-worms whose products would rival even those
of his native belle France. The California Silk Center Association
of Los Angeles was soon formed, and four ^thousand acres of
the rancho once belonging to Juan Bandini, fourteen hundred and
sixty acres of the Hartshorn Tract and three thousand one
hundred and sixty-nine acres of the Jurupa, on the east side
of the Santa Ana River, were purchased. That was in June
or July; but on August i6th, in the midst of a dry season, Louis
Prevost died, and the movement received a serious setback.
To add to the reverses, the demand for silk-worm eggs fell off
amazingly; while finally, to give the enterprise its death-blow,
the Legislators, fearful that the State Treasury would be de-
pleted through the payment of bounties, withdrew aU State
aid.
The Silk Center Association, therefore, failed ; but the South-
em California Colony Association bought all the land, paying
for it something like three dollars and a half an acre. To
many persons, the price was quite enough : old Louis Robidoux
had long refused to list his portion for taxes, and some one had
described much of the acreage as so dry that even coyotes,
in crossing, took along their canteens for safety! A town
called at first Jurupa, and later Riverside, was laid out; a
fifty thousand-dollar ditch diverted the Santa Ana River to a ■
place where Nature had failed to arrange for its flowing; and
in a few months a number of families had settled beside the
artificial waterway. Riversiders long had to travel back and
forth to Los Angeles for most of their supplies (a stage, still
in existence, being used by ordinary passengers) , and this made
a friendly as well as profitable business relation with the older
and larger town; but experiments soon showing that oranges
could grow in the arid soil. Riverside in course of time had
something to sell as well as to buy.
"Who was more familiar both to the youth of the town and to
grown-ups than Nicolas Martinez, in summer the purveyor of
cooling ice cream, in winter the vender of hot tamales! From
392 Sixty Years in Southern California [1869]
morning till night, month in and month out during the sixties
and seventies, Martinez paced the streets, his dark skin made
still swarthier in contrast to his white costume — a shirt, scarcely
tidy, together with pantaloons none too symmetrical and
hanging down in ganerous folds at the waist. On his head, in
true native fashion, he balanced in a small hooped tub what he
had for sale; he spoke with a pronounced Latin accent, and
his favorite method of announcing his presence was to bawl
out his wares. The same receptacle, resting upon a round board
with an opening to ease the load and covered with a bunch
of cloths, served both to keep the tamales hot and the ice
cream cool ; while to dispense the latter, he carried in one hand
a circular iron tray, in which were holes to accommodate three
or four glasses. Further, for the convenience of the exacting
youth of the town, he added a spoon to each cream-filled glass ;
and what stray speck of the ice was l^f t on the spoon after the
youngster had given it a parting lick, Nicolas, bawling anew
to attract the next customer, fastidiously removed with his
tobacco-stained fingers !
CHAPTER XXVII
COMING OF THE IRON HORSE
■t
1869
THE Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad continued in 1869
to be the local theme of most importance, although its
construction did not go on as rapidly as had been
promised. The site for a depot, it is true, had been selected;
but by June 14th, only six miles were finished. Farmers were
loud in complaints that they had been heavily taxed, and in
demanding that the road be rushed to completion, in order to
handle the prospectively -large grain crop. Additional gangs
were therefore employed, and by the twentieth of July, seven
more miles of track had been laid. In the meantime, the Sun-
day School at Compton enjoyed the first excursion, the mem-
bers making themselves comfortable on benches and straw in
some freight cars.
As the work on the railroad progressed, stages, in addition
to those regularly running through from Los Angeles to Wil-
mington, began connecting with the trains at the temporary
terminus of the railroad. People went down to Wilmington to
see the operations, not merely on the track, but in the machine
shops where the cars for freight, express, baggage, smoking
and passenger service (designed by A. A. PoUiamus, the machin-
ist) were being built under the superintendence of Samuel
Atkinson, who had been brought West by the San Fran-
cisco & San Jose Valley Railroad, because of a reputation
for railroad experience enjoyed by few, if by any other
persons on the Coast. The Company also had a planing
393
394 Sixty Years in Southern California ['869
mill and wheelwright shop under the charge of George W.
Oden.
By the first of August, both the railroad and connecting
stages were advertising Sunday excursions to the beach,
emphasizing the chance to travel part of the way by the new
means of transit. Curiously, however, visitors were allowed
to enjoy the sea-breezes but a short time: arriving at Wilming-
ton about ten or half -past, they were compelled to start back
for Los Angeles by four in the afternoon. Many resorters
still patronized the old service; and frequently the regular
stages, racing all the way up from the steamer, would actually
reach the city half an hour earlier than those transferring the
passengers from the railway terminus which was extended by
August 1st to a point within four miles of town.
When eighteen miles had been finished, it was reported
that General Stoneman and his post band would make an
excursion on the first train, accompanied by General Banning
and leading citizens of the town; but strong opposition to
the Company laying its tracks through the center of "The
Lane," now Alameda Street, having developed, the work was
stopped by injunction. The road had been constructed to a
point opposite the old Wolfskill home, then "far from town,"
and until the matter was settled, passengers and freight were
unloaded there.
Great excitement prevailed here shortly after sundown on
Wednesday evening, August 21st, when the mail-stage which
had left for Gilroy but a short time before came tearing back
to town, the seven or eight passengers excitedly shouting that
they had been robbed. The stage had proceeded but two
miles from Los Angeles when four masked highwaymen stepped
into the road and ordered, "Hands up!" Among the passen-
gers was the well-known and popular Ben Truman who, having
learned by previous experience just what to do in such a ticklish
emergency and "being persuaded that the two barrels of cold
steel had somewhat the porportions of a railway tunnel, " sadly
but promptly unrolled one hundred and eighty dollars in bills,
and quite as sadly deposited, in addition, his favorite chro-
i869i Coming of the Iron Horse 395
nometer. The highwayman picked up the watch, looked it
over, shook his head and, thanking Ben, returned it, expressing
the hope that, whatever adversity might overwhelm him, he
should never be discovered with such a timepiece ! All in all,
the robbers secured nearly two thousand dollars; but, strange to
relate, they overlooked the treasure in the Wells Fargo chest,
as well as several hundred dollars in greenbacks belonging to
the Government. Sheriff J. F. Burns and Deputy H. C. Wiley
pursued and captured the robbers; and within about a week
they were sent to the Penitentiary.
On the same evening, at high tide, the little steamer
christened Los Angeles and constructed by P. Banning &
Company to run from the wharf to the outside anchorage,
was committed to the waters, bon-fires illuminating quite
distinctly both guests and the neighboring landscape, and
lending to the scene a weird and charming effect.
In a previous chapter I have given an account of Lady
Franklin's visit to San Pedro and Los Angeles, and of the
attention shown her. Her presence awakened new interest
in the "search for her lamented husband, and paved the way
for the sympathetic reception of any intelligence likely to
clear up the mystery. No little excitement, therefore, was
occasioned eight years later by the finding of a document at
San Buenaventura that seemed "like a voice from the dead."
According to the story told, as James Daly (of the lumber firm
of Daly & Rodgers) was walking on the beach on August 30th,
he found a sheet of paper a foot square, much mutilated but
bearing, in five or six different languages, a still legible request
to forward the memoranda to the nearest British Consul or the
Admiralty at London. Every square inch of the paper was
covered with data relating to Sir John FrankHn and his party,
concluding with the definite statement that Franklin had died
onjuneiith, 1847. Havingbeenfound within a week of the time
that the remnant of Dr. Hall's party, which went in search of
the explorer, had arrived home in Connecticut with the an-
nouncement that they had discovered seven skeletons of
FrankHn's men, this document, washed up on the Pacific Coast,
396 Sixty Years in Southern California [1869
excited much comment; but I am unable to say whether it
was ever accepted by competent judges as having been written
by Frankhn's associates.
In 1869, the long-famiHar adobe of Jose Antonio Carrillo
was razed to make way for what, for many years, was the
leading hotel of Los Angeles. This was the Pico House, in its
decline known as the National Hotel, which, when erected on
Main Street opposite the Plaza at a cost of nearly fifty thou-
sand dollars, but emphasized in its contrasting showiness
the ugliness of the neglected square. Some thirty-five thou-
sand dollars were spent in furnishing the eighty-odd rooms,
and no little splurge was made that guests could there enjoy
the luxuries of both gas and baths! In its palmy days, the
Pico House welcomed from time to time travelers of wide dis-
tinction; while many a pioneer, among them not a few newly-
wedded couples now permanently identified with Los Angeles
or the Southland, look back to the hostelry as the one surviv-
ing building fondly associated with the olden days. Charles
Knowlton was an early manager; and he was succeeded by
Dunham & Schieffelin.
Competition in the blacking of boots enlivened the fall,
the Hotel Lafayette putting boldly in printer's ink the ques-
tion, "Do You Want to Have Your Boots Blacked in a Cool,
Private Place?" This challenge was answered with the
following proclamation:
Champion Boot-Black! Boots Blacked Neater and
Cheaper than Anywhere Else in the City, at the Blue Wing
Shaving Saloon by D. Jefferson.
Brickmaking had become, by September, quite an import-
ant industry. Joe Mullally, whose brickyard was near the
Jewish Cemetery, then had two kilns with a capacity of two
hundred and twenty-five thousand ; and in the following month
he made over five hundred thousand brick.
In course of time, the Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad
was completed to the Madigan lot, which remained for several
1869] Coming- of the Iron Horse 397
'&
years the Los Angeles terminus; and justly confident that
the difficulty with the authorities would be removed, the
Company pushed work on their depot and put in a turn-table
at the foot of New Commercial Street. There was but one
diminutive locomotive, though a larger one was on its way
around the Horn from the East arid still another was coming
by the Continental Railway; and every few days the little
engine would go out of commission, so that traffic was con-
stantly interrupted. At such times, confidence in the enter-
prise was somewhat shaken; but new rolling stock served to
reassure the public. A brightly-painted smoking-car, with
seats mounted on springs, was soon the "talk of the town."
I have spoken of J. J. Reynolds's early enterprise and the
competition that he evoked. Toward the end of July, he went
up to San Francisco and outdid Hewitt by purchasing a hand-
some omnibus, suitable for hotel service and also adapted to
the needs of families or individuals clubbing together for picnics
and excursions. This gave the first impetus to the use of hotel
'buses, and by the first Sunday in September, when the cars
from Wilmington rolled in bringing passengers from the
steamer Orizaba, the travelers were met by omnibuses and
coaches from all three hotels, the Bella Union, the United States
and the Lafayette; the number of vehicles, public and private,
giving the streets around the railroad depot a very lively
appearance.
Judge W. G. Dryden, so long a unique figure here, died
on September loth and A. J. King succeeded him as County
Judge.
A notable visit to Los Angeles was that of Secretary Wil-
liam H. Seward who, in 1869, made a trip across the Continent,
going as far north as Alaska and as far south as Mexico,
and being everywhere enthusiastically received. When Seward
left San Francisco for San Diego, about the middle of September,
he was accompanied by Frederick Seward and wife (his son
and daughter-in-law) , General W. S. Rosecrans, General Morton
C. Hunter, Colonel Thomas Sedgwick and Senator S. B. Axtell;
and the news of their departure having been telegraphed ahead,
398 Sixty Years in Southern California U^9
many people went down to greet them on the arrival of the
steamer Orizaba. After the little steamer Los Angeles had
been made fast to the wharf, it was announced, to everyone's
disappointment, that the Secretary was not coming ashore, as
he wished to continue on his way to San Diego.
Meanwhile, the Common Council had resolved to extend
the hospitality of the City to the distinguished party; and by
September 19th, posters proclaimed that Seward and his party
were coming and that citizens generally would be afforded an
opportunity to participate in a public reception at the Bella
Union on September 21st. A day in advance, therefore, the
Mayor and a Committee from the Council set out for Anaheim,
where they met the distinguished statesman on his way, whence
the party jogged along leisurely in a carriage and four
until they arrived at the bank of the Los Angeles River; and
there Seward and his friends were met by other officials and
a cavalcade of eighty citizens led by the military band of
Drum Barracks. The guests alighted at the Bella Union
and in a few minutes a rapidly-increasing crowd was calling
loudly for Mr. Seward.
The Secretary, being welcomed on the balcony by Mayor
Joel H. Turner, said that he had been laboring under mistakes
all his life : he had visited Rome to witness celebrated ruins, but
he found more interesting ruins in the Spanish Missions (great
cheers) ; he had journeyed to Switzerland to view its glaciers,
but upon the Pacific Coast he had seen rivers of ice two hun-
dred and fifty feet in breadth, five miles long and God knows
how high (more cheers) ; he had explored Labrador to examine
the fisheries, but in Alaska he found that the fisheries came to
him (Hear ! hear ! and renewed applause) ; he had gone to Bur-
gundy to view the most celebrated vineyards of the world,
but the vineyards of California far surpassed them all ! (Vocif-
erous and deafening hurrahs, and tossing of bouquets.)
The next day the Washington guests and their friends
were shown about the neighborhood, and that evening Mr.
Seward made another and equally happy speech to the audience
drawn to the Bella Union by the playing of the band. There
1869] Coming of the Iron Horse 399
were also addresses by the Mayor, Senator Axtell, ex-Governor
Downey and others, after which, in good old American fashion,
citizens generally were introduced to the associate of the
martyred Lincoln. At nine o'clock, a number of invited guests
were ushered into the Bella Union's dining-room where, at a
bounteous repast, the company drank to the health of the
Secretary. This brought from the visitor an eloquent response
with interesting local allusions.
Secretary Seward remarked that he found people here
agitated upon the question of internal improvements — for
everywhere people wanted railroads. Califomians, if they were
patient, would yet witness a railroad through the North,
another by the Southern route, still another by the Thirty-fifth
parallel, a fourth by the central route, and lastly, as the old
plantation song goes, one "down the middle!" California
needed more population, and railroads were the means by which
to get people.
Finally, Mr. Seward spoke of the future prospects of the
United States, saying much of peculiar interest in the light
of later developments. We were already great, he affirmed;
but a nation satisfied with its greatness is a nation without
a future. We should expand, and as mightily as we could;
until at length we had both the right and the power to move our
armies anywhere in North America. As to the island lying
almost within a stone's throw of our mainland, ought we not
to possess Cuba, too?
Other toasts, such as "The Mayor and Common Council,"
"The Pioneers," "The Ancient Hospitality of California,"
"The Press," "The Wine Press" and "Our Wives and Sweet-
hearts," were proposed and responded to, much good feeling
prevailing notwithstanding the variance in political sentiments
represented by guests and hosts; and everyone went home,
in the small hours of the morning, pleased with the manner in
which Los Angeles had received her illustrious visitors. The
next day. Secretary Seward and party left for the North by
carriages, rolling away toward Santa Barbara and the moun-
tains so soon to be invaded by the puffing, screeching iron horse.
400 Sixty Years in Southern California [1869
Recollecting this banquet to Secretary Seward, I may add
an amusing fact of a personal nature. Eugene Meyer and I
arranged to go to the dinner together, agreeing that we were
to meet at the store of S. Lazard & Company, almost directly
opposite the Bella Union. When I left Los Angeles in 1867,
evening dress was uncommon ; but in New York I had become
accustomed to its more frequent use. Rather naturally, there-
fore, I donned my swallowtail; Meyer, however, I found in a
business suit and surprised at my query as to whether he intended
going home to dress? Just as we were, we walked across the
street and, entering the hotel, whom should we meet but ex-
Mayor John G. Nichols, wearing a grayish linen duster, popu-
lar in those days, that extended to his very ankles; while Pio
and Andres Pico came attired in blue coats with big brass
buttons. Meyer, observing the Mayor's outfit, facetiously
asked me if I still wished him to go home and dress according
to Los Angeles fashion ; whereupon I drew off my gloves, but-
toned up my overcoat and determined to sit out the banquet
with my claw-hammer thus concealed. Mr. Seward, it is
needless to say, was faultlessly attired.
The Spanish archives were long neglected, until M. Kremer
was authorized to overhaul and arrange the documents; and
even then it was not until September i6th that the Council
built a vault for the preservation of the official papers. Two
years later, Kremer discovered an original proclamation of peace
between the United States and Mexico.
Elsewhere I allude to the slow development of Fort Street.
For the first time, on the twenty-fourth of September street
lamps burned there, and that was from six to nine months after
darkness had been partially banished from Nigger Alley, Los
Angeles, Aliso and Alameda streets.
Supplementing what I have said of the Los Angeles & San
Pedro Railroad depot : it was built on a lot fronting three hun-
dred feet on Alameda Street and having a depth of one hundred
and twenty feet, its situation being such that, after the exten-
sion of Commercial Street, the structure occupied the southwest
comer of the two highways. Really, it was more of a freight-
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Alameda Street Depot and Train, Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad
1869] Coming of the Iron Horse 401
shed than anything else, without adequate passenger facilities ;
a small space at the North end contained a second story in
which some of the clerks slept; and in a cramped little cage
beneath, tickets were sold. By the way, the engineer of the
first train to run through to this depot was James Holmes,
although B. W. Colling ran the first train stopping inside the
city limits.
About this time the real estate excitement had become still
more intense. In anticipation of the erection of this depot.
Commercial Street property boomed and the first realty agents
of whom I have any recollection appeared on the scene. Judge
R. M. Widney being among them. I remember that two lots —
one eighty by one hundred and twenty feet in size at the north-
west corner of First and Spring streets, and the other having
a frontage of only twenty feet on New Commercial Street,
adjacent to the station — were offered simultaneously at twelve
hundred dollars each. Contrary, no doubt, to what he would
do to-day, the purchaser chose the Commercial Street lot, be-
lieving that location to have the better future.
Telegraph rates were not very favorable, in 1869, to fre-
quent or verbose communication. Ten words sent from Los
Angeles to San Francisco cost one dollar and a half; and fifty
cents additional was asked for the next five words. After a
while, there was a reduction of twenty-five per cent, in the cost
of the first ten words, and fifty per cent, on the second five.
Twenty-four hundred voters registered in Los Angeles
this year.
In the fall, WilHam H. Spurgeon founded Santa Ana some
five miles beyond Anaheim on a tract of about fifty acres,
where a number of the first settlers experimented in growing
flax.
It is not clear to me just when the rocky Arroyo Seco began
to be popular as a resort, but I remember going there on pic-
nics as early as 1857. By the late sixties, when Santa Monica
Canon also appealed to the lovers of sylvan life, the Arroyo
had become known as Sycamore Grove — a name doubtless
suggested by the numerous sycamores there — and Clois F.
26
402 Sixty Years in Southern California [1869
Henrickson had opened an establishment including a little
"hotel," a dancing-pavilion, a saloon and a shooting-alley.
Free lunch and free beer were provided for the first day, and
each Sunday thereafter in the summer season an omnibus
ran every two hours from Los Angeles to the Sycamores.
After some years, John Rumph and wife succeeded to the
management, Frau Rumph being a popular Wirtin; and then
the Los Angeles Tumverein used the grove for its public per-
formances, including gymnastics, singing and the old-time
sack-racing and target-shooting.
James Miller Guinn, who had come to California in Novem-
ber, 1 863 and had spent several years in various counties of the
State digging for gold and teaching school, drifted down to Los
Angeles in October and was soon engaged as Principal of the
public school at the new town of Anaheim, remaining there in
that capacity for twelve years, during part of which time he
also did good work on the County School Board.
Under the auspices of the French Benevolent Society and
toward the end of October, the corner-stone of the French
Hospital built on City donation lots, and for many years and
even now one of the most efficient institutions of our city, was
laid with the usual ceremonies.
On October 9th, the first of the new locomotives arrived at
Wilmington and a week later made the first trial trip, with a
baggage and passenger car. Just before departure a painter was
employed to label the engine and decorate it with a few scrolls ;
when it was discovered, too late, that the artist had spelled
the name: LOS ANGELOS. On October 23d, two lodges of
Odd Fellows used the railway to visit Bohen Lodge at Wil-
mington, returning on the first train, up to that time, run into
Los Angeles at midnight.
October 26th was a memorable day, for on that date the
Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad Company opened the line
to the public and invited everybody to enjoy a free excursion to
the harbor. Two trains were dispatched each way, the second
consisting of ten cars ; and not less than fifteen hundred per-
sons made the round trip. Unfortunately, it was very warm
1:869] Coming of the Iron Horse 403
and dusty, but such discomforts were soon forgotten in the
novelty of the experience. On the last trip back came the
musicians ; and the new Los Angeles depot having been cleared,
cleaned up and decorated for a dedicatory ball, there was a
stampede to the little structure, filling it in a jiffy.
Judge H. K. S. O'Melveny, who first crossed the Plains from
Illinois on horseback in 1849, came to Los Angeles with his
family in November, having already served four years as a
Circuit Judge, following his practice of law in Sacramento.
He was a brother-in-law of L. J. Rose, having married, in 1850,
Miss Annie Wilhelmina Rose. Upon his arrival, he purchased
the southwest corner of Second and Fort streets, a lot one hun-
dred and twenty by one hundred and sixty-five feet in size, and
there he subsequently constructed one of the fine houses of the
period; which was bought, some years later, by Jotham Bixby
for about forty -five hundred dollars, after it had passed through
various hands. Bixby lived in it for a number of years and
then resold it. In 1872, O'Melveny was elected Judge of Los
Angeles County; and in 1887, he was appointed Superior Judge.
H. W. O'Melveny, his second son, came from the East with
his parents, graduating in time from the Los Angeles High
School and the State University. Now he is a distinguished
attorney and occupies a leading position as a public-spirited
citizen, and a patron of the arts and sciences.
In his very, readable work, From East Prussia to the Golden
Gate, Frank Lecouvreur credits me with having served the
commonwealth as Supervisor. This is a sHght mistake: I was
an unwilling candidate, but never assumed the responsibilities
of office. In 1869, various friends waited upon me and requested
me to stand as their candidate for the supervisorship ; to which
I answered that I would be glad to serve my district, but that
I would not lift a finger toward securing my election. H.
Abila was chosen with six hundred and thirty-one votes, E. M.
Sanford being a close second with six hundred and sixteen ; while
five hundred and thirty-seven votes were cast in my favor.
Trains on the new railway began to run regularly on No-
vember 1st; and there still exists one of the first time-tables,
404 Sixty Years in Southern California [1869
bearing at the head, "Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad"
and a little picture of a locomotive and train. At first, the
train scheduled for two stated round trips a day (except on
steamer days, when the time was conditioned by the arrival
and departure of vessels) left Wilmington at eight o'clock
in the morning and at one o'clock in the afternoon, returning at
ten in the morning and four in the afternoon. The fare between
Los Angeles and Wilmington was one dollar and fifty cents,
with an additional charge of one dollar to the Anchorage ; while
on freight from the Anchorage to Los Angeles, the tariff was:
dry goods, sixteen dollars per ton; groceries and other mer-
chandise, five dollars; and lumber, seven dollars per thousand
feet.
After the formal opening of the railroad, a permanent
staff of officers, crew and mechanicians was organized. The
first Superintendent was H. W. Hawthorne, who was succeeded
by E. E. Hewitt, editor of the Wilmington Journal. N. A.
McDonald, was the first conductor; Sam Butler was the first
and, for a while, the only brakeman, and the engineers were
James McBride and Bill Thomas. The first local agent was
John Milner; the first agent at Wilmington, John McCrea.
The former was succeeded by John E. Jackson, who from
1880 to 1882 served the community as City Surveyor. Worthy
of remark, perhaps, as a coincidence, is the fact that both
Milner and McCrea ultimately became connected in important
capacities with the Farmers & Merchants Bank.
The first advertised public excursion on the Los Angeles &
San Pedro Railroad after its opening was a trip to Wilmington
and around San Pedro Harbor, arranged for November 5th, 1869.
The cars, drawn by the locomotive Los Angeles and connecting
with the little steamer of the same name, left at ten and re-
turned at three o'clock in the afternoon. Two dollars was the
round- trip fare, while another dollar was exacted from those who
went out upon the harbor.
In the late seventies, a Portuguese named Fayal settled
near what is now the corner of Sixth and Front streets, San
Pedro; and one Lindskow took up his abode in another shack
i869i Coming of the Iron Horse 405
a block away. Around these rude huts sprang up the neigh-
borhoods of Fayal and Lindville, since absorbed by San Pedro.
Probably the first attempt to organize a fire company for
Los Angeles was made in 1869, when a meeting was called on
Saturday evening, November 6th, at Buffum's Saloon, to con-
sider the matter. A temporary organization was formed, with
Henry Wartenberg as President; W. A. Mix, Vice-President;
George M. Fall, Secretary; and John H. Gregory, Treasurer.
An initiation fee of two dollars and a half, and monthly dues
of twenty-five cents, were decided upon; and J. F. Burns, B.
Katz, Emil Harris, George Pridham, E. B. Frink, C. D. Hatha-
way, P. Thompson, O. W. Potter, C. M. Small and E. C.
Phelps were charter members. A committee appointed to
canvass for subscriptions made little progress, and the partial
destruction of Rowan's American Bakery, in December,
demonstrating the need of an engine and hose cart, brought
out sharp criticism of Los Angeles's penuriousness.
About the middle of November, Daniel Desmond, who had
come on October 14th of the preceding year, opened a hat
store on Los Angeles Street near New Commercial, widely
advertising the enterprise as a pioneer one and declaring,
perhaps unconscious of any pun, that he proposed to fill a want
that had "long been felt." The steamer Orizaba, which was to
bring down Desmond's goods, as ill luck would have it left
half of his stock lying on the San Francisco pier; and the
opening, so much heralded, had to be deferred several weeks.
As late as 1876, he was still the only exclusive hatter here.
Desmond died on January 23d, 1903, aged seventy years, and
was succeeded by his son, C. C. Desmond. Another son, D.
J. Desmond, is the well-known contractor.
Toward the close of November, Joseph Joly, a Frenchman,
opened the Chartres Coffee Factory on Main Street opposite
the Plaza, and was the pioneer in that line. He delivered to
both stores and families, and for a while seemed phenomenally
successful; but one fine morning in December it was discovered
that the "Jolly Joseph" had absconded, leaving behind nu-
merous unpaid bills.
4o6 Sixty Years in Southern California [1869
The first marble-cutter to open a workshop in Los Angeles
was named Miller. He came toward the end of 1869 and
established himself in the Downey Block. Prior to Miller's
coming, all marble work was brought from San Francisco or
some source still farther away, and the delay and expense
debarred many from 'using that stone even for the pious
purpose of identifying graves.
With the growth of Anaheim as the business center of the
country between the new San Gabriel and the Santa Ana
rivers, sentiment had been spreading in favor of the division
of Los Angeles County; and at the opening of the Legislature
of 1869-70, Anaheim had its official representative in Sacra-
mento, ready to present the claims of the little German settle-
ment and its thriving neighbors. The person selected for
this important embassy was Major Max von Stroble; and he
inaugurated his campaign with such sagacity and energy that
the bill passed the Assembly and everything pointed to an
early realization of the scheme. It was not, however, until
Los Angeles awoke to the fact that the proposed segregation
meant a decided loss, that opposition developed in the Senate
and the whole matter was held up.
Stroble thereupon sent posthaste to his supporters for
more cash, and efforts were made to get the stubborn Senate to
reconsider. Doubtless somebody else had a longer purse than
Stroble; for in the end he was defeated, and the German's
dream did not come true until long after he had migrated to
the realms that know no subdivisions. One of the arguments
used in favor of the separation was that it took two days's time,
and cost six dollars, for the round trip to the Los Angeles Court-
house; while another contention then regarded as of great
importance was that the one coil of hose pipe owned by the
County was kept at Los Angeles ! Stroble, by- the- way, desired
to call the new county Anaheim.
Major von Stroble was a very interesting character.
He was a German who had stood shoulder to shoulder with
Carl Schurz and Franz Sigel in the German Revolution of
1848, and who, after having taken part in the adventures of
1869] Coming of the Iron Horse 40?
Walker's filibustering expedition to Nicaragua, finally landed in
Anaheim, where he turned his attention to the making of wine.
He soon tired of that, and in 1867 was found boring for oil on
the Brea Ranch, again meeting with reverses where others
later were so successful. He then started the movement to
divide Los Angeles County and once more failed in what was
afterward accomplished. JournaHsm in Anaheim next ab-
sorbed him and, having had the best of educational advantages,
Stroble brought to his newspaper both culture and the experi-
ence of travel.
The last grand effort of this adventurous spirit was the
attempt to sell Santa CataUna Island. Backed by the owners,
Stroble sailed for Europe and opened headquarters near Thread-
needle Street in London. In a few weeks he had almost ef-
fected the sale, the contract having been drawn and the time
actually set for the following day when the money — a cool two
hundred thousand pounds — was to be paid; but no Stroble
kept tryst to carry out his part of the transaction. Only the
evening before, alone and unattended, the old man had died
in his room at the very moment when Fortune, for the first
time, was to smile upon him ! Eighteen or twenty years later,
Catalina was sold for much less than the price once agreed
upon.
CHAPTER XXVIII
THE LAST OF THE VIGILANTES
1870
AS I have somewhere related, I began buying hides as far
back as 1855, but it was not until 1870 that this
branch of our business assumed such importance as to
require more convenient quarters. Then we bought a place
on the southeast comer of Alameda and Commercial streets,
facing sixty feet on Alameda and having a depth of one
hundred and sixty-five feet, where we constructed a hide-house
and erected a press for baling. We paid P. Beaudry eleven
hundred dollars for the lot. The relatively high price shows
what the Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad depot had done
for that section. In the days when hides were sent by sailing-
vessels to the East, a different method of preparing them for
shipment was in vogue. The wet hides having been stretched,
small stakes were driven into the ground along the edge of, and
through the skins, thus holding them in place until they had
dried and expanding them by about one- third ; in this condition
they were forwarded loose. Now that transportation is more
rapid and there are tanneries in California, all hides are
handled wet.
In 1870, business life was centered on Los Angeles Street
between Commercial and Arcadia; and all the hotels were
north of First Street. Fort Street ended in a little bluff at a
spot now between Franklin and First streets. Spring Street
was beginning to take on new life, and yet there was but
one gas lamp along the entire roadway, though many were
408
[1870I The Last of the Vigilantes 409
the appeals to add another lamp, "say, as far as First
Street!"
Sometime in January, a number of ladies of this city met
and, through the exertions of Mrs. Rosa Newmark, wife of
Joseph Newmark, formed the Ladies' Hebrew Benevolent So-
ciety. Mrs. Newmark, as was once pointed out in a notable
open-air meeting of women's clubs (to which I elsewhere refer),
never accepted any office in the Society; but for years she was
untiring in her efforts in the cause of charity. The first officers
were: President, Mrs. W. Kalisher; Vice-President, Mrs. Harris
Newmark; Treasurer, Mrs. John Jones; Secretary, Mrs. B.
Katz ; and Collector, Mrs. A. Baer. Three Counselors — Henry
Wartenberg, I. M. Hellman and myself — occasionally met with
the ladies to advise them.
Aside from the fact of its importance as the pioneer ladies'
benevolent organization instituted in Los Angeles, the Society
found a much-needed work to do. It was then almost im-
possible to obtain nurses, and the duty devolved on members to
act in that capacity, where such assistance was required,
whether the afflicted were rich or poor. It was also their
function to prepare the dead for interment, and to keep
proper vigil over the remains until the time of burial.
During the year 1869 or 1870, as the result of occasional
gatherings in the office of Dr. Joseph Kurtz, the Los Angeles
Turnverein was organized with eleven members — Emil Harris
leading in the movement, assisted by Dr. Kurtz, Ed. Preuss,
Lorenzo Leek, Philip and Henry Stoll, Jake Kuhrts, Fred
Morsch, C. C. Lips and Isaac Cohn. Dr. Kurtz was elected
President. They fraternized for a while at Frau Wiebecke's
Garden, on the west side of Alameda near First Street, about
where the Union Hardware and Metal Company now stands ;
and there, while beer and wine were served in the open air, the
Teutons gratified their love of music and song. Needing for
their gymnastics more enclosed quarters, the Turnverein rented
of KaHsher & Wartenberg the barn on Alameda Street be-
tween Ducommon and First, used as a hide-house ; and in that
rough-boarded shack, whose none too aromatic odors are still
4IO Sixty Years in Southern California [1870
a souvenir to many a pioneer resident, the Turners swung and
vaulted to their heart's content. Classes were soon arranged
for boys; and the envy of all was the lad who, after numerous
risks to limb and neck, proudly topped the human pyramid.
Another garden of this period often patronized by the Tum-
verein was Kiln Messer's, on First Street between Alameda
and the river.
The Post Office was moved this year from the corner of
North Main and Market streets to the middle of Temple
Block, but even there the facilities were so inadequate that
Wells Fargo & Company, in June, put up a letter-box at the
corner of Main and Commercial streets which was emptied
but once a day, at four o'clock in the afternoon, save on steamer
days when letters were taken out at half-past nine. One
other box was at the sole railroad depot, then at the corner of
Alameda and Commercial streets. The Post Office at that time
was also so miserably illuminated that citizens fumbled about
to find their letter-boxes, and ladies were timid about entering
the building at night. Postmasters were allowed small reserves ;
and for some time in 1870 the Los Angeles Post Office was
entirely out of one- and two-cent stamps.
In February, the way was prepared for the first city directory
when the houses of Los Angeles were ordered to be numbered,
a public discussion of the need for a directory having taken
place the previous December. When the collaborators began
to coUect names and other data, there were many refusals to
answer questions ; but the little volume of seventy pages was
finally published in 1871.
Until 1870 Los Angeles had no bookbinder, all binding
having had to be sent to San Francisco ; and a call was then
sent out to induce a journeyman to settle here.
On the fourteenth of February, Phineas Banning was mar-
ried to Miss Mary, daughter of Colonel J. H. HoUister — the
affair being the consummation of a series of courtly addresses
in which, as I have related, it was my pleasurable privilege
to play an intermediary part. As might be expected of one
who was himself an experienced and generous entertainer, the
i87o] The Last of the Vigilantes 41 1
ii"
wedding was a social event to be long and pleasantly remem-
bered by the friends of the bride and groom. Mrs. Banning,
who for years maintained an attractive home on Fort Hill,
is now living on Commonwealth Avenue.
About this time, Colonel Isaac R. Dunkelberger came to
Los Angeles to live, having just finished his fifth year in the
army in Arizona, following a long service under Northern
banners during the Civil War. While here, the Colonel
met and courted Miss Mary Mallard, daughter of Judge
Mallard; and on February 26th, 1867, they were married.
For eight years, from March, 1877, Dunkelberger was Post-
master. He died on December 5th, 1904, survived by his
widow and six children. While writing about this estimable
family, it occurs to me that Mary, then a little girl, was one
of the guests at my wedding.
Frank Lecouvreur, who was Surveyor of Los Angeles
County from 1870 until 1873, was a native of East Prussia
and like his predecessor, George Hansen, came to CaHfomia
by way of the Horn. For a while, as I have related, he was
my bookkeeper. In 1877, he married Miss Josephine Rosanna
Smith who had renounced her vows as a nun. Ten years later
he suffered a paralytic stroke and was an invahd until his
death, on January 17 th, 1901.
Once introduced, the telegraph gradually grew in popu-
larity; but even in 1870, when the Western Union company
had come into the field and was operating as far as the
Coast, service was anything but satisfactory. The poles be-
tween Los Angeles and San Francisco had become rotten and
often fell, dragging the wires with them, and interrupting
communication with the North. There were no wires, up to
that time, to Santa Barbara or San Bernardino; and only in
the spring of that year was it decided to put a telegraph line
through to San Diego. When the Santa Barbara line was
proposed, the citizens there speedily subscribed twenty-two
hundred and forty-five dollars; it having been the company's
plan always to get some local stockholders.
As the result of real estate purchases and exchanges in the
412 Sixty Years in Southern California I1870
late sixties and early seventies between Dr. J. S. Griffin,
Phineas Banning, B. D. Wilson, P. Beaudry and others, a
fruit-growing colony was planned in April, when it was pro-
posed to take in some seventeen hundred and fifty acres of the
best part of the San Pasqual rancho, including a ten-thousand-
dollar ditch. A company, with a capital stock of two hundred
thousand dollars divided into four thousand shares of fifty
dollars each, was formed to grow oranges, lemons, grapes,
olives, nuts and raisins, John Archibald being President;
R. M. Widney, Vice-President; W. J. Taylor, Secretary; and
the London & San Francisco Bank, Treasurer. But although
subscription books were opened and the scheme was adver-
tised, nothing was done with the land until D. M. Berry and
others came from Indiana and started the Indiana Colony.
A rather uncommon personality for about thirty years was
Fred Dohs, who carne from Germany when he was twenty-
three and engaged in trading horses. By 1870 he was man-
aging a barber shop near the Downey Block, and soon after
was conducting a string band. For many years, the barber-
musician furnished the music for most of the local dances and
entertainments, at the same time (or until prices began to be
cut) maintaining his shop, where he charged two bits for a
shave and four bits for a hair-cut. During his prosperity,
Dohs acquired property, principally on East First Street.
The first foot-bridge having finally succumbed to the
turbulent waters of the erratic Los Angeles River, the great
fiood of 1867-68 again called the attention of our citizens to the
necessity of establishing permanent and safe communication
between the two sides of the stream ; and this agitation resulted
in the construction by Perry & Woodworth of the first fairly
substantial bridge at the foot of the old AHso Road, now Macy
Street, at an outlay of some twenty thousand dollars. Yet,
notwithstanding the great necessity that had always existed
for this improvement, it is my recollection that it was not con-
summated until about 1870. Like its poor little predecessor
carried away by the uncontrolled waters, the more dignified
structure was broken up by a still later flood, and the pieces
i87o] The Last of the Vigilantes 4^3
of timber once so carefully put together by a confident and
satisfied people were strewn for a mile or two along the river
banks.
'Way back in the formative years of Los Angeles, there
were suddenly added to the constellation of noteworthy local
characters two jovial, witty, good-for-nothing Irishmen who
from the first were pals. The two were known as Dan Kelly
and Micky Free. » Micky's right name was Dan Harrington ;
but I never knew Kelly to go under any other . appellation.
When sober, which was not very frequent, Dan and Micky
were good-natured, jocular and free from care, and it mattered
not to either of them whether the morrow might find them
well-fed and at liberty or in the jail then known as the
Hotel de Burns: "sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof"
was the only philosophy they knew. They were boon com-
panions when free from drink; but when saturated, they
immediately fought like demons. They were both in the
toils quite ten months of the year, while during the other two
months they carried a hod ! Of the two, Micky was the most
irredeemable, and in time he became such a nuisance that the
authorities finally decided to ship him out of the country and
bought him a ticket to Oregon. Micky got as far as San Pedro,
where he traded his ticket for a case of delirium tremens;
but he did something more — he broke his leg and was bundled
back to Los Angeles, renewing here the acquaintance of both
the bartender and the jailer. Some years later, he astonished
the town by giving up drink and entering the Veterans's
Home. When he died, they gave him a soldier's honors and
a soldier's grave.
In 1870, F. Bonshard imported into Los Angeles County
some five or six hundred blooded Cashmere goats; and about
the same time or perhaps even earHer, J. E. Pleasants conducted
at Los Nietos a similar enterprise, at one time having four or
five hundred of a superior breed, the wool of which brought
from twenty-five to thirty-five cents a pound. The goat-
fancying Pleasants also had some twelve hundred Angoras.
On June ist, Henry Hamilton, who two years before had
414 Sixty Years in Southern California I1870
resumed the editorship of the Los Angeles Star, then a weekly,
issued the first number of the Daily Star. He had taken into
partnership George W. Barter, who three months later started
the Anaheim Gazette. In 1872, Barter was cowhided by a
woman, and a committee formally requested the editor to
vamose the town ! Barter next bought the Daily Star from
Hamilton, on credit, but he was unable to carry out his
contract and within a year Hamilton was again in charge.
At the beginning of this decade, times in Arizona were
really very bad. H. Newmark & Company, who had large
amounts due them from merchants in that Territory, were not en-
tirely easy about their outstanding accounts, and this prompted
Kaspare Cohn to visit our customers there. I urged him to
consider the dangers of the road and to abandon his project;
but he was determined to go. The story of the trip, in the
light of present methods and the comparative safety of travel,
is an interesting one, and I shall relate his experiences as he
described them to me.
He started on a Saturday, going by stage (in preference to
buckboard) from Los Angeles to San Bernardino, and from
there rode, as the only passenger, with a stage-driver named
Brown, passing through Frink's Ranch, Oilman's, White
River, Agua Caliente, Indian Wells, Toros, Dos Palmas,
Chuckawalla, Mule Springs and Willow Springs. H. New-
mark & Company had forwarded, on a prairie schooner driven
by Jesse Allen of Los Angeles, a considerable amount of
merchandise which it was their intention should be sold
in Arizona, and the freighting charge upon which was to
be twelve and a half cents per pound. In Chuckawalla, fa-
miliarly called Chucky Valley, the travelers overtook Allen and
the stock of goods; and this meeting in that lonesome region
was the cause of such mutual rejoicing that Kaspare provided
as abundant an entertainment as his limited stores would
permit. Resuming their journey from Chuckawalla, the driver
and his companion soon left Allen and his cumbersome load
in the rear.
It was near Granite Wash, as they were jogging along in the
i87o] The Last of the Vigilantes 4^5
evening, that they noticed some Indian fire signals. These
were produced by digging a hole in the ground, filling it with
combustible material, such as dry leaves, and setting fire to it.
From the smoldering that resulted, smoke was emitted and
sparks burst forth. Observing these ticklish warnings, the
wayfarers sped away and escaped — perhaps, a tragic fate.
Arriving at Ehrenberg on a Tuesday morning, Kaspare re-
mained there all night. Still the only passenger, he left the
next day; and it may be imagined how cheering, after the
previous experience, was the driver's remark that, on account
of the lonesome character of the trip, and especially the danger
from scalping Apaches, he would never have departed without
some company !
Somewhere between Granite Wash and Wickenberg, a
peculiar rattling revealed a near-by snake, whereupon Kaspare
jumped out and shot the reptile, securing the tail and rattles.
Changing horses or resting at Tyson's Wells, McMullen's and
CuUen's Station, they arrived the next night at Wickenberg, the
location of the Vulture Mines, where Kaspare called upon the
Superintendent — a man named Peoples — to collect a large
amount they owed us. Half of the sum was paid in gold bars,
at the rate of sixteen dollars per ounce, while the other half
we lost. ,
A niece of M. Kremer lived in Wickenberg, where her
husband was in business. She suffered a great deal from
headaches, and a friend had recommended, as a talisman, the
possession of snake rattles. Kaspare, with his accustomed
gallantry, produced the specimen which he had obtained and
gave it to the lady ; and it is to be hoped that she was as per-
manently relieved of her pain as so many nowadays are cured
of imaginary troubles by no more substantial superstitions.
Making short stops at Wilson's Station, Antelope Station,
Kirkland Valley, Skull Valley and Mint Valley, Kaspare reached
Prescott, some four hundred and thirty miles from San Ber-
nardino, and enquired after Dan Hazard, the ex-Mayor's
brother and one of our customers — who died about the
middle of the eighties — and learned that he was then on his
4i6 Sixty Years in Southern California [1870
way to St. Louis with teams to haul back freight for Levi
Bashford who, in addition to being an important trader, was
Government Receiver of Public Moneys. Kaspare decided to
remain in Prescott until Hazard returned ; and as Jesse Allen
soon arrived with the merchandise, Kaspare had ample time
to sell it. Bashford, as a Government official, was not per-
mitted to handle such goods as matches and cigars, which bore
revenue stamps, but Kaspare sold him quantities of lard, beans,
coffee, sugar and other supplies. He sold the revenue-stamped
articles to Buffum & Campbell, the former of whom had once
been a well-known resident of Los Angeles. He also disposed
of some goods to Henderson Brothers, afterward prominent
bankers of Tucson and Globe, Arizona. In the meantime, Dan
Hazard returned and settled his account in full.
Kaspare remained in Prescott nearly four weeks. Between
the collections that he made and the money which he received
for the consigned merchandise, he had about thirteen thousand
dollars in currency to bring back with him. With this amount
of money on his person, the return trip was more than ever
fraught with danger. Mindful of this added peril, Kaspare kept
the time of his departure from Prescott secret, no one, with the
exception of Bashford, being in his confidence. He prepared
very quietly ; and at the last moment, one Saturday afternoon,
he slipped into the stage and started for California. Brown was
again his companion as far as Ehrenberg. There he met Frank
Ganahl and Charles Strong, both soon to become Southern
CaUf ornians ; and knowing them very well, their companion-
ship contributed during the rest of the trip not only pleasure
but an agreeable feeling of security. His arrival in Los Angeles
afforded me much relief, and the story of his adventures and
success added more than a touch of interest.
The first street-sprinklers in Los Angeles were owned and
operated about the middle of July by T. W. McCracken, who
was allowed by the Council to call upon residents along the
route for weekly contributions to keep the water wagon going.
I have told of the establishing of Hellman, Temple &
Company as bankers. In September, the first-named bought
i87o] The Last of the Vigilantes 4^7
a
out his partners and continued, until 1871, as Hellman &
Company.
With the commencement of autumn, when the belief
prevailed that little or nothing could be done toward persuading
the Common Council to beautify the Plaza, a movement to
lay out and embellish the five-acre tract bounded by Hill and
Olive, and Fifth and Sixth streets, met with such favor that, by
the first week in October, some eight hundred dollars had been
subscribed for the purpose. On November 19th a public meet-
ing was held, presided over by Prudent Beaudry, Major H. M.
Mitchell serving as Secretary; and it was suggested to call the
proposed square the Los Angeles Park, and to enclose it, at a
cost of about five hundred dollars, with a fence. Another two
hundred dollars was soon made up; and the services of L.
Carpenter, who offered to plow the land prior to sowing grass-
seed, were accepted in lieu of a subscription. Both George
Lehman and Elijah Workman showed their public spirit
by planting what have since become the largest trees there.
Sometime later, the name was changed to Central Park,
by which it is still known.
The first hackney coach ever built in Los Angeles was
turned out in September by John GoUer for J. J. Reynolds
■ — about the same time that the Oriental Stage Company
brought a dozen new Concord coaches from the East — and
cost one thousand dollars. GoUer was then famous for elabo-
rate vehicles and patented spring buggies which he shipped
even to pretentious and bustling San Francisco. Before the
end of November, however, friends of the clever and enterpris-
ing carriage-maker were startled to hear that he had failed
for the then not insignificant sum of about forty thousand
dollars.
Up to the fall of the year, no connection existed between
Temple and First Streets west of Spring ; but on the first day of
September, a cut through the hill, effected by means of chain-
gang labor and continuing Fort Street north, was completed, to
the satisfaction of the entire community.
About the middle of October, a petition was presented to the
27
4i8 Sixty Years in Southern California [1870
Common Council calling attention to the fact that the Los
Angeles Water Company two years before had agreed to erect
a fountain on the Plaza ; and declaring that the open place was
little short of a " scarecrow for visitors. ' ' The Company imme-
diately replied that it was ready to put up the fountain ; and in
November the Council ordered the brick tank taken away.
At the beginning of August, 1871, the fountain began playing.
During the second marshalship of William C. Warren, when
Joe Dye was one of his deputy officers, there was great traffic
in Chinese women, one of whom was kidnaped and carried
off to San Diego. A reward of a hundred dollars was offered
for her return, and she was brought back on a charge of theft
and tried in the Court of Justice Trafford, on Temple Street
near Spring. During the trial, on October 31st, 1870, Warren
and Dye fell into a dispute as to the reward; and the quarrel
was renewed outside the courtroom. At a spot near the
corner of Spring and Temple streets Dye shot and killed
Warren; and in the scrimmage several other persons standing
near were wounded. Dye was tried, but acquitted. Later,
however, he himself was killed by a nephew, Mason Bradfield,
whose life he had frequently threatened and who fired the
deadly bullet from a window of the New Arlington Hotel,
formerly the White House, at the southeast corner of Com-
mercial and Los Angeles streets. Mrs. C. P. Bradfield, Brad-
field's mother and a teacher, who came in 1875, was the
author of certain text-books for drawing, published by A. S.
Barnes & Company of New York.
Failures in raising and using camels in the Southwest
were due, at least partially, to ignorance of the animal's wants,
a company of Mexicans, in the early sixties, overloading some
and treating them so badly that nearly all died. Later, French-
men, who had had more experience, secured the two camels left,
and by 1870 there was a herd of no less than twenty-five on a
ranch near the Carson River in Nevada, where they were used
in packing salt for sixty miles or more to the mills.
On October 31st, the first Teacher's Institute held in Los
Angeles County was opened, with an attendance of thirty-five,
1870] The Last of the Vigilantes 4^9
in the old Bath Street schoolhouse, that center being selected
because the school building at Spring and Second streets,
though much better adapted to the purpose, was considered
to be too far out of town! County Superintendent W. M.
McFadden was President; J. M. Guinn was Vice-President;
and P. C. Tonner was Secretary; while a leader in discussions
was Dr. Truman H. Rose, who there gave a strong impetus
to the founding of the first high school.
Soon after this Institute was held, the State Legislature
authorized bonds to the amount of twenty thousand dollars
for the purpose of erecting another schooUiouse; and the
building was soon to be known as the Los Angeles High School.
W. H. Workman, M. Kremer and H. D. Barrows were the
building committee.
Mentioning educators, I may introduce the once well-
known name of Professor Adams, an instructor in French
who lived here in the early seventies. He was so very
urbane that on one occasion, while overdoing his polite
attention to a lady, he feU off the sidewalk and badly broke
his leg!
In a previous chapter I have spoken of a Frenchman named
Lachenais who killed a fellow-countryman at a wake, the
murder being one of a succession of crimes for which he finally
paid the penalty at the hands of a Vigilance Committee in the
last lynching witnessed here.
Lachenais hved near where the Westminster Hotel now
stands, on the northeast corner of Main and Fourth streets,
but he also had a farm south of the city, adjoining that of
Jacob Bell who was once a partner in sheep-raising with
John Schumacher. The old man was respectable and quiet,
but Lachenais quarreled with him over water taken from the
zanja. Without warning, he rode up to Bell as he was work-
ing in his field and shot him dead ; but there being no witnesses
to the act, this murder remained, temporarily, a mystery.
One evening, as Lachenais (to whom suspicion had been
gradually directed) , was lounging about in a drunken condition,
he let slip a remark as to the folly of anyone looking for
420 Sixty Years in Southern California USyo]
Bell's murderer; and this indiscretion led to his arrest and
incarceration.
No sooner had the news of Lachenais's apprehension been
passed along than the whole town was in a turmoil. A meeting
at Stearns's Hall was largely attended; a Vigilance Committee
was formed; Lachenais's record was reviewed and his death at
the hands of an outraged community was decided upon. Every-
thing being arranged, three hundred or more armed men, under
the leadership of Felix Signoret, the barber — Councilman in
1863 and proprietor of the Signoret Building opposite the Pico
House — assembled on the morning of December 17th, marched
to the jail, overcame Sheriff Bums and his assistants, took
Lachenais out, dragged him along to the corral of Tomlinson &
Griffith (at the corner of Temple and New High streets) and
there summarily hanged him. Then the mob, without further
demonstration, broke up; the participants going their several
ways. The reader may have already observed that this was
not the first time that the old Tomlinson & Griffith gate had
served this same gruesome purpose.
The following January, County Judge Y. Sepulveda charged
the Grand Jury to do its duty toward ferreting out the leaders
of the mob, and so wipe out this reproach to the city; but the
Grand Jury expressed the conviction that if the law had
hitherto been faithfully executed in Los Angeles, such scenes
in broad daylight would never have taken place. The editor
of the News, however, ventured to assert that this report was
but another disgrace.
CHAPTER XXIX
THE CHINESE MASSACRE
187I
HNEWMARK & COMPANY enjoyed associations with
nearly all of the most important wool men and rancheros
• in Southern California, our office for many years being
headquarters for these stalwarts, as many as a dozen or more
of whom would ofttimes congregate, giving the store the ap-
pearance of a social center. They came in from their ranches
and discussed with freedom the different phases of their affairs
and other subjects of interest. Wheat, corn, barley, hay,
cattle, sheep, irrigation and kindred topics were passed upon ;
although in 1871 the price of wool being out of all proportion
to anything like its legitimate value, the uppermost topic of con-
versation was wool. These meetings were a welcome interrup-
tion to the monotony of our work. Some of the most important
of these visitors were Jotham, John W. and Llewellyn Bixby,
Isaac Lankershim, L. J. Rose, I. N. Van Nuys, R. S. Baker,
George Carson, Manuel Dominguez, Domingo Amestoy, Juan
Mafias Sanchez, Dan Freeman, John Rowland, John Reed,
Joe Bridger, Louis Phillips, the brothers Gamier, Remi Na-
deau, E.J. Baldwin, P. Banning and Alessandro Repetto. There
was also not a weather prophet, near or far, who did not
manage to appear at these weighty discussions and offer his
oracular opinions about the pranks of the elements; on which
occasions, one after another of these wise men would step to the
door, look at the sky and broad landscape, solemnly shake his
head and then render his verdict to the speculating circle
421
422 Sixty Years in Southern California I'Syi
within. According as the moon emerged "so that one could
hang something upon it," or in such a manner that "water
would run off" (as they pictured it), we were to have dry
or rainy weather; nor would volumes of talk shake their con-
fidence. Occasionally, I added a word, merely to draw out
these weather-beaten and interesting old chaps ; but usually I
listened quietly and was entertained by all that was said. Hours
would be spent by these friends in chatting and smoking the
time away; and if they enjoyed the situation half as much
as I did, pleasant remembrances of these occasions must have
endured with them. Many of those to whom I have referred
have ended their earthly careers, while others, living in different
parts of the county, are still hale and hearty.
A curious character was then here, in the person of the
reputed son of a former, and brother of the then, Lord Clan-
morris, an EngUsh nobleman. Once a student at Dr. Arnold's
famous Rugby, he had knocked about the world until, shabbily
treated by Dame Fortune, he had become a sheepherder in the
employ of the Bixbys.
M. J. Newmark, who now came to visit us from New York,
was admitted to partnership with H. Newmark & Company,
and this determined his future residence.
As was natural in a town of pueblo origin, plays were often
advertised in Spanish ; one of the placards, still preserved, thus
announcing the attraction for January 30th, at the Merced
Theater :
TEATRO MERCED
LOS ANGELES
Lunes, Enero 30, de 1871
Primero Funcion de la Gran Compafiia Dramatica, De Don
Tomas Maguire, El Empresario Veterano de San Francisco,
Veinte y Cuatro Artistas de ambos sexos, todos conocidos
como EsTRELLAS de primera clase.
In certain quarters of the city, the bill was printed in English.
Credit for the first move toward the formation of a County
i87i] The Chinese Massacre 423
Medical Society here should probably be given to Dr. H. S.
Orme, at whose ofSce early in 1871 a preliminary meeting was
held; but it was in the ofi&ce of Drs. Grififin and Widney, on
January 31st, that the organization was effected, my friend
Griffin being elected President ; Dr. R. T. Hayes, Vice-President;
Dr. Orme, Treasurer ; and Dr. E. L. Dow, Secretary. Thus began
a society which, in the intervening years, has accomplished
much good work.
Late in January, Luther H. Titus, one of several breeders
of fast horses, brought from San Francisco by steamer a fine
thoroughbred stallion named Echo, a half-brother of the
celebrated trotter Dexter which had been shipped from the East
in a Central Pacific car especially constructed for the pur-
pose— in itself something of a wonder then. Sporting men
came from a distance to see the horse ; but interest was divided
between the stallion and a mammoth turkey of a peculiar
breed, also brought west by Titus, who prophesied that the
bird, when full grown, would tip the beam at from forty-five
to fifty pounds.
Early in February, the first steps were taken to reorganize
and consolidate the two banking houses in which Downey
and Hellman were interested, when it was proposed to start
the Bank of Los Angeles, with a capital of five hundred
thousand dollars. Some three hundred and eighty thousand
dollars of this sum were soon subscribed ; and by the first week
in April, twenty-five per cent, of the capital had been called in.
John G. Downey was President and I. W. Helknan was Cashier;
their office was in the former rooms of Hellman, Temple &
Company. On the tenth of April the institution was opened
as the Farmers & Merchants Bank; and on July loth, J. G.
Downey, Charles Ducommun, 0. W. Childs, I. M. Hellman,
George Hansen, A. Glassell, J. S. Griffin, Jose Mascarel and
I. W. Hellman were chosen Trustees. From the first the
Bank prospered, so that when the crisis of 1875 tested the
substantiability of the financial institutions here, the Farmers
& Merchants rode the storm. In April, 1 871, Hellman in-
augurated a popular poHcy when he offered to pay interest on
424 Sixty Years in Southern California [1871
time deposits, for it brought many clients who had previously
been accustomed to do their banking in San Francisco; and
before long the Bank advertised one hundred thousand dollars
to lend on good security.
On February 14th, Stephen Samsbury, known as Buckskin
Bill, and a man named Carter murdered the twin brothers
Bilderback who had taken up some land very close to Verdugo —
now incorporated in Glendale — and were engaged in chopping
wood; the murderers coveting the land and planning to sell
the fuel. Deputy Sheriff Dunlap went in pursuit of the
desperadoes, and noticing some loose earth in the roadbed
near by, he thrust a stick into the ground and so uncovered
the blood-stained end of a blanket which led to the finding of
the bodies.
J. F. Burns, who, at eighty-three years of age, still manifests
his old time spirit, being then Sheriff, pursued Buckskin Bill
until the twenty -fourth of June. A young soldier on the way to
Fort Yuma met Burns at San Pedro, and having agreed to sell
him certain information about the fugitive, revealed the fact
that Bill had been seen near Tecate, mounted on a horse, with
his squaw and infant riding a mule. The chase had previously
taken the Sheriff from Verdugo Canon to White Pine, Nevada,
and back to Los Angeles; and acting on this new clue. Burns
obtained a requisition on the Mexican Governor from Judge
Ygnacio Sepulveda, and went to Lower California where, with
Felipe Zarate, a Mexican officer, he located the man after two
or three days' search. About twenty miles north of Real
Castillo, the Sheriff found the fugitive, and in the ensuing
fight Samsbury accidentally shot himself; and so terribly did
the wounded man suffer that he begged Burns to finish him at
once. The Sheriff, refusing, improved the opportunity to
secure a full confession of Bill's numerous crimes, among which
figured the killing of five other men — besides the Bilderback
brothers — in different parts of California.
After Samsbury died. Burns cut off his foot — known to
have six toes — and placed it in mescal, a popular and strongly-
intoxicating beverage of the Mexicans; and when later the
i87i] The Chinese Massacre 425
SherifiE presented this trophy to the good citizens of California,
it was accepted as abundant proof that the man he had gone
after had been captured and disposed of. The Legislature
promptly paid Burns nearly five thousand dollars; but Los
Angeles County, which had pledged two hundred dollars'
reward, refused to recompense the doughty Sheriff and has
never since made good its promise. In 1889, Burns was
Chief of Police, with Emil Harris as his Captain.
The earliest move toward the formation of a Los Angeles
Board of Trade was made, not in 1883, nor even in 1873 —
when the first Chamber of Commerce began — but in 1871,
a fact that seems to be generally forgotten. Late in February
of that year, a number of leading shippers came together
to discuss Coast trade and other interests; and B. L. Peel
moved that a Board of Trade be organized. The motion was
carried and the organization was effected; but with the waning
of enthusiasm for the improvements proposed or, perhaps,
through the failure of its members to agree, the embryonic
Board of Trade soon died.
In February, B. L. Peel & Company installed the telegraph
in their commission office — probably the first instance of a
private wire in local business history.
At the outset of the somewhat momentous decade of the
seventies, Hellman, Haas & Company was established, with H.
W. Hellman, Jacob Haas and B. Cohn partners ; their first store
being on the east side of Los Angeles Street opposite H. New-
mark & Company's. Abraham Haas, who came in December,
1873, had a share in his brother's venture from the start; but
it was not until 1875, when he bought out Cohn's interest,
that he became a partner. Ten years after the firm commenced
business, that is, in 1881, Jacob Baruch, who had come to
California with J. Loew, and with him had made his start at
Galatin, was admitted to partnership; and in 1889, a year after
Jacob Haas's death, Haas & Baruch bought out H. W. Hellman.
Then it was that Haas, Baruch & Company, a name so agree-
ably known throughout Southern California, first entered the
field, their activity — immediately felt — permitting very little
426 Sixty Years in Southern California [1871
of the proverbial grass to grow under one's feet. On January
7th, 1909, Jacob Baruch died. Haas since December 12th,
1900 has been a resident of San Francisco.
This year the United States Government began the great
work of improving Wilmington or San Pedro Harbor. The
gap between Rattlesnake and Dead Man's islands was closed
by means of a breakwater, creating a regular current in the
channel; and dredging to a depth of seventeen or eighteen feet
first made it possible for vessels of size to cross the bar at low
tide. Among those active in preparing documents for Con-
gress and securing the survey was Judge R. M. Widney, of
whose public services mention has been made; while Phineas
Banning, at his own expense, made trips to Washington in
behalf of the project.
A genuine novelty was introduced in 187 1, when Downs
& Bent late in February opened a roller-skating rink at
Teutonia Hall. Twenty-five cents was charged for admission,
and an additional quarter demanded for the use of skates.
Ladies and gentlemen flocked to enjoy the new sensation; a
second rink was soon opened in Los Angeles and another in
El Monte ; and among those who became proficient skaters was
Pancho Coronel, one of the social lions of his day. In time,
however, the craze waned, and what had been hailed as fash-
ionable because of its popularity in the great cities of the
East, lost in favor, particularly among those of social
pretensions.
In March, a call for a meeting to organize an Agricultural
Society for the Counties of Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San
Bernardino, Kern and San Diego brought together a large
number of our citizens. L. J. Rose and his neighbor L. H.
Titus, Dr. J. S. Griffin, Colonel J. J. Warner, Judge H. K. S.
O'Melveny, Judge A. J. King, John G. Downey, F. N. Slaugh-
ter and many others including myself became actively in-
terested, and then and there started the Southern District
Agricultural Society which, for years, contributed so much
to advance the agricultural interests of Southern California.
Annual trotting races, lasting a week, lent impetus to the breed-
i87il The Chinese Massacre 427
ing of fine stock, for which this part of the State became
famous. L. J. Rose was the moving spirit in this enterprise;
and he it was who induced me and other friends to participate.
Even the first ice machine, in March, did not freeze the
price below four cents per pound.
Edited by Henry C. Austin, the Evening Express made its
first appearance on March 27th. It was started by the printers,
George and Jesse Yarnell, George A. Tiffany, J. W. Paynter
and Miguel Verelo; but James J. Ayers — in 1882 State Printer
— who was one of the founders of the San Francisco Morning
Call, succeeded Austin in 1875, and then the Yarnells and
Verelo retired.
L. V. Prudhomme, better known as Victor Prudhomme —
a name sometimes, but probably incorrectly, spelled Prudhon —
who is said to have come from France about the middle of the
thirties, died here on May 8th. His wife was a Spanish woman
and for a while they resided on the east side of Main Street
between Requena and First, not far from my brother's store.
As a rather active member of the French Colony, he was a
man in good standing, and was engaged, it seems to me, in the
wine industry. He also owned some land near San Bernardino
and was continually visiting that place.
On May 27th, S. J. Millington, announced as "the pioneer
dancing master of California," opened a dancing academy at
Stearns's Hall, and it at once sprang into social favor. He
had morning classes for children and evening classes for adults.
I happen to recall the circumstances more clearly for I was
one of his committee of patrons. Dances, by the way, were
given frequently, and were often attended in costume and even
in disguise. I remember such an occasion in the early seventies
when elaborate toilettes and variety of dress marked an ad-
vance in these harmless diversions. Conspicuous among the
guests was John Jones, elderly and seldom given to frivolity,
who appeared in the character of the Father of his Country.
In early June, a Chinese junk, cruising in search of abalones,
attracted no little attention at San Pedro as a primitive and
clumsy specimen of marine architecture.
428 Sixty Years in Southern California [1871
The sudden and abnormal demand for the abalone shell
offered such large returns as to tempt men to take desperate
chances in hunting for them among the rocks. Sometime in
the seventies, a Chinaman, searching near San Diego, thrust
his hand into an open shell and the abalone closed upon his
wrist with such an irresistible grip that the unfortunate shell-
hunter was held fast until overtaken by the rising tide and
drowned.
For many years Los Angeles booklovers were supplied
by merchants who sold other things, or who conducted a
limited loan library in conjunction with their business. Such a
circulating collection Samuel Hellman displayed in February,
1 87 1. The first exclusively book and periodical store was
opened in the same year, by Brodrick & Reilly, adjoining the
Post Office on Spring street.
Albert Fenner Kercheval, who took up his residence in
1 87 1 on the west side of Pearl Street near the end of Sixth,
on what was formerly known as the Gelcich Place, first came
to California — Hangtown — in 1849 and experienced much the
same kind of mining adventure as inspired Bret Harte. On
his second visit to the Coast, Kercheval raised strawberries
and early tomatoes, for which he found a ready sale in San
Francisco ; and in his spare moments he wrote poems — collected
and published in 1883 under the title of Dolores — some of which
rather cleverly reflect California Hfe.
On June 19th, the Teutonia-Concordia society merged
with the Los Angeles Tumverein, forming the Turnverein-
Germania ; and about the same time, the original home of the
Verein, a frame building on South Spring Street, was erected.
In that year, also, the first German school was founded —
the sessions being conducted at the old Round House.
Having had no fitting celebration of the Fourth of July for
years, a number of citizens in 1871 called a meeting to con-
sider the matter, and A. J. Johnston, L. Lichtenberger, W. H.
Perry, J. M. Griffith, John Wilson, O. W. Childs and myself
were appointed to make arrangements. A list of forty or
fifty leading merchants willing to close their places of business
s
•3
'^ a
a
w
a 5
W^'
to
=3
n
o
I
.g
H
i87i] The Chinese Massacre 429
on Independence Day was drawn up; a program was easily-
prepared ; and the music, display of flags and bunting, and the
patriotic addresses awakened, after such a neglect of the
occasion, new and edifying emotions.
Slight regard was formerly paid by officers to the safety or
life of the Indian, who had a persistent weakness for alcohol;
and when citizens did attend to the removal of these inebriates,
they frequently looked to the Municipality for compensation.
For instance; at a meeting of the Common Council, in July,
Pete Wilson presented a bill of two dollars and a half "for the
removal of a nuisance," which nuisance, upon investigation,
was shown to have been a drunken squaw whom he had retired
from the street! The Council, after debating the momentous
question of reimbursement, finally reached a compromise by
which the City saved just — twenty-five cents.
Alexander Bell died on July 24th, after a residence of
twenty-nine years in Los Angeles.
Beginning with the seventies, attention was directed to
Santa Monica as a possible summer resort, but it was some
years before many people saw in the Bay and its immediate
environment the opportunities upon which thousands have
since seized. In the summer of 1871 less than twenty families,
the majority in tents, sojourned there among the sycamore
groves in the Caiion where J. M. Harned had a bar and "refresh-
ment parlor." The attractions of beach and surf, however,
were beginning to be appreciated, and so were the opportunities
for shooting — at Tell's and elsewhere; and on Sundays two or
three hundred excursionists frequently visited that neighbor-
hood, Reynolds, the liveryman, doing a thriving business carry-
ing people to the beach.
Speaking of this gradual awakening to the attractions of
Santa Monica, I recall that school children of the late sixties
held their picnics at the Canon, going down on crowded stages
where the choicest seats were on the box ; and that one of the
most popular drivers of that period was Tommy O'Campo.
He handled the reins with the dexterity of a Hank Monk,
and before sunrise Young America would go over to the corral,
430 Sixty Years in Southern California [1871
there to wait long and patiently in order to get an especially-
desirable seat on Tommy's stage.
With the completion of the Los Angeles & San Pedro Rail-
road, excursions to Catalina began to be in vogue; but as the
local population was small, considerable effort was needed some-
times to secure enough patrons to make the trips pay. Thus
an excursion for Sunday, August 13th, was advertised by
the skipper of the steamer Vaquero, a couple of dollars for the
round trip being charged, with half price for children; but by
Saturday morning the requisite number of subscribers had not
been obtained, and the excursion was called off.
Otto J. and Oswald F. Zahn, sons of Dr. Johann Carl
Zahn who came here about 1871, were carrier-pigeon fanciers
and established a service between Avalon and Los Angeles,
fastening their messages, written on tissue paper, by delicate
wire to the birds' legs. For some time the Catalina Pigeon
Messengers, as they were called, left Avalon late in the after-
noon, after the last steamer, bringing news that appeared in the
Los Angeles newspapers of the following morning. Usually
the birds took a good hour in crossing the channel ; but on one
occasion. Blue Jim, the champion, covered the distance of
forty-eight miles in fifty minutes.
On the evening of August 23d, the announcement came
over the wires of Don Abel Stearns's death in San Francisco,
at five o'clock that afternoon, at the Grand Hotel. Late in
October, his body was brought to Los Angeles for final inter-
ment, the tombstone having arrived from San Francisco a
week or two previously. Awesome indeed was the scene that
I witnessed when the ropes sustaining the eight hundred pound
metallic casket snapped, pitching the coffin and its grim con-
tents into the grave. I shall never forget the unearthly shriek
of Dona Arcadia, as well as the accident itself.
With the wane of summer, we received the startling news
of the death, through Indians, of Frederick Loring, the young
journalist and author well known in Los Angeles, who was
with the United States Exploring Expedition to Arizona as a
correspondent oi Appleion's Journal. "Bootless, coatless and
i87i] The Chinese Massacre 43 1
everything but lifeless," as he put it, he had just escaped
perishing in Death Valley, when the stage party was at-
tacked by Apaches, and Loring and four other passengers were
killed.
In September, during Captain George J. Clarke's adminis-
tration as Postmaster, foreign money-orders began to be issued
here for the first time, payable only in Great Britain and Ire-
land, twenty-five cents being charged for sending ten dollars
or less; and shortly afterward, international money-orders
were issued for Germany and some other Continental countries.
Then five or six hundred letters for Los Angeles County were
looked upon as rather a large dispatch by one steamer from
San Francisco and the North; and the canceling of from
twelve to fifteen dollars' worth of stamps a day was regarded
as "big business."
Vincent CoUyer — the Peace Commissioner sent out with
General O. O. Howard by the Government in 1868 — who
eventuallj' made himself most unpopular in Arizona by
pleading the cause of the scalping Apaches in the fall of
1 87 1, put up at the Pico House; when public feeUng led
one newspaper to suggest that if the citizens wished "to see a
monster, " they had "only to stand before the hotel and watch
Collyer pass to and fro!"
In the fall, tidings of Chicago's awful calamity by fire
reached Los Angeles, but strange to say, no public action was
taken until the editor of the Los Angeles News, on October
1 2th, gave vent to his feelings in the following editorial:
Three days ago the press of this City called upon the
public generally to meet at a stated hour last evening, at the
County Courtroom, to do something towards alleviating
the sufferings of the destitute thousands in Chicago. The calam-
ity which has overtaken that unfortunate City has aroused the
sympathy of the world, and the heart and pulse of civiUzed
humanity voluntarily respond, extending assistance in deeds
as well as in words. From all parts of the globe, where the
name of Chicago is known, liberal donations flow into a common
treasury. We had hoped to-be able to add the name of Los
Angeles among the Hst, as having done its duty. But in what-
432 Sixty Years in Southern California [1871
ever else she may excel, her charity is a dishonorable exception.
Her bowels are absolute strangers to sympathy, when called
upon to practically demonstrate it. At the place of meeting,
instead of seeing the multitude, we were astonished to find but
three persons, viz: Governor Downey, John Jones, and a
gentleman from Riverside, who is on a visit here. Anything
more disgraceful than this apathy on the part of her inhabitants
she could not have been guilty of. For her selfishness, she
justly deserves the fearful fate that has befallen the helpless
one that now lies stricken in the dust. Let her bow down her
head in shame. Chicago, our response to your appeal is,
Starve I What do we care ?
This candid rebuke was not without effect; a committee
was immediately formed to solicit contributions from the
general public, and within an hour a tidy sum had been raised.
By October i8th the fund had reached over two thousand
dollars, exclusive of two hundred and fifty dollars given by the
Hebrew Benevolent Society and still another hundred dollars
raised by the Jewish ladies.
About the twenty-first of October a "war" broke out near
Nigger Alley between two rival factions of the Chinese on ac-
count of the forcible carrying off of one of the companies' female
members, and the steamer California soon brought a batch of
Chinamen from San Francisco, sent down, it was claimed, to
help wreak vengeance on the abductors. On Monday, October
23d some of the contestants were arrested, brought before
Justice Gray and released on bail. It was expected that this
would end the trouble; but at five o'clock the next day the
factional strife broke loose again, and officers, accompanied by
citizens, rushed to the place to attempt an arrest. The Chinese
resisted and Officer Jesus Bilderrain was shot in the right
shoulder and wrist, while his fifteen-year-old brother received
a ball in the right leg. Robert Thompson, a citizen who
sprang to Bilderrain's assistance, was met by a Chinaman
with two revolvers and shot to death. Other shots from Chi-
nese barricaded behind some iron shutters wounded a number
of bystanders.
News of the attacks and counter-attacks spread like wild-
i87i] The Chinese Massacre 433
fire, and a mob of a thousand or more frenzied beyond control,
armed with pistols, guns, knives and ropes, and determined to
avenge Thompson's murder, assembled in the neighborhood of
the disturbance. While this solid phalanx was being formed
around Nigger Alley, a Chinaman, waving a hatchet, was seen
trying to escape across Los Angeles Street ; and Romo Sortorel,
at the expense of some ugly cuts on the hand, captured him.
Emil Harris then rescued the Mongolian; but a detachment of
the crowd, yelling "Hang him ! shoot him! " overpowered Harris
at Temple and Spring streets, and dragged the trembling wretch
up Temple to New High street, where the familiar framework
of the corral gates suggested its use as a gallows. With the
first suspension, the rope broke; but the second attempt to
hang the prisoner was successful. Other Chinamen, whose
roofs had been smashed in, were rushed down Los Angeles
Street to the south side of Commercial, and there, near GoUer's
wagon shop, between wagons stood on end, were hung.
Alarmed for the safety of their cook. Sing Ty, the Juan Lan-
francos hid the Mongolian for a week, until the excitement
had subsided.
Henry T. Hazard was lolling comfortably in a shaving
saloon, under the luxurious lather of the barber, when he heard
of the riot ; and arriving on the scene, he mounted a barrel and
attempted to remonstrate with the crowd. Some friends
soon pulled him down, warning him that he might be shot. A.
J. King was at supper when word was brought to him that
Chinese were slaughtering white people, and he responded by
seizing his rifle and two revolvers. In trying one of the
latter, however, it was prematurely discharged, taking the
tip off a finger and putting him hors de combat. Sheriff Burns
could not reach the scene until an hour after the row started
and many Chinamen had already taken their celestial flight.
When he arrived, he called for a posse comitatus to assist him
in handling the situation; but no one responded. He also
demanded from the leader of the mob and others that they
disperse ; but with the same negative result. About that time,
a party of rioters started with a Chinaman up Commercial
28
434 Sixty Years in Southern California [1871
Street to Main, evidently bent on hanging him to the Tomlin-
son & Griffith gate; and when Burns promised to attempt a
rescue if he had but two volunteers, Judge R. M. Widney and
James Goldsworthy responded and the Chinaman was taken
from his tormentors and lodged in jail. Besides Judge Widney,
Cameron E. Thom and H. C. Austin displayed great courage in
facing the mob, which was made up of the scum and dregs of
the city; and Sheriff Burns is also entitled to much credit for
his part in preventing the burning of the Chinese quarters.
All the efforts of the better element, however, did not prevent
one of the most disgraceful of all disturbances which had oc-
curred since my arrival in Los Angeles. On October 25th,
when Coroner Joseph Kurtz impanelled his jury, nineteen
bodies of Chinamen alone were in evidence and the verdict
was : ' ' Death through strangulation by persons unknown to
the jury." Emil Harris's testimony at the inquest, that but
one of the twenty-two or more victims deserved his fate,
about hits the mark and confirms the opinion that the slight
punishment to half a dozen of the conspirators was very
inadequate.
At the time of the massacre, I heard a shot just as I was
about to leave my office, and learned that it had been fired from
that part of Chinatown facing Los Angeles Street; and I soon
ascertained that it had ended Thompson's life. Anticipating
no further trouble, however, I went home to dinner. When
I returned to town, news of the riot had spread, and with my.
neighbors, Cameron E. Thom and John G. Downey, I hurried
to the scene. It was then that I became an eye-witness to the
heroic, if somewhat comical parts played by Thom and Burns.
The former, having climbed to the top of a box, harangued
the crowd, while the Sheriff, who had succeeded in mounting a
barrel, was also addressing the tumultuous rabble in an effort
to restore order. Unfortunately, this receptacle had been coop-
ered to serve as a container, not as a rostrum ; and the head of
the cask under the pressure of two hundred pounds or more of
official avoirdupois suddenly collapsed and our Worthy Guard-
ian of the Peace dropped, with accelerated speed, clear through
i87i] The Chinese Massacre 435
to the ground, and quite unintentionally, for the moment at
least, turned grim tragedy into grotesque comedy.
Following this massacre, the Chinese Government made
such a vigorous protest to the United States that the Washing-
ton authorities finally paid a large indemnity. During these
negotiations, Chinese throughout the country held lamentation
services for the Los Angeles victims; and on August 2d, 1872,
four Chinese priests came from San Francisco to conduct the
ceremonies.
In 1870, F. P. F. Temple, who had seen constructed two
sections of the building now known as Temple Block, made the
fatal blunder of accepting the friendly advice that led him to
erect the third section at the junction of Spring and Main streets,
and to establish therein a bank under the name of Temple &
Workman. The building, costing in the neighborhood of one
hundred and fifty thousand dollars, was all that could have
been desired, proving by long odds the most ornamental
edifice in the city; and when, on November 23d, 1871, the bank
was opened in its comfortable quarters on the Spring Street
side of the block, nothing seemed wanting to success. The
furnishings were elaborate, one feature of the office outfit being
a very handsome counter of native cedar, a decided advance in
decoration over the primitive bare or painted wood then com-
mon here. Neither Temple, who had sold his fine ranch near
Fort Tejon to embark in the enterprise, nor Workman had had
any practical experience in either finance or commerce; and
to make matters worse. Workman, being at that time a very
old man, left the entire management to his son-in-law. Temple,
in whom he had full confidence. It soon became evident that
anybody could borrow money with or without proper security,
and unscrupulous people hastened to take advantage of the
situation. In due season I shall tell what happened to this
bank.
In the preceding spring when the Coast-line stage companies
were still the only rivals to the steamers, a movement favoring
an opposition boat was started, and by June leading shippers
were discussing the advisability of even purchasing a competi-
436 Sixty Years in Southern California ['871]
tive steamer ; all the vessels up to that time having been owned
by companies or individuals with headquarters in the Northern
metropolis. Matthew Keller was then in San Francisco;
and having been led to believe that a company could be
financed, books were opened for subscriptions in Los Angeles,
Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and elsewhere. For lack of
the necessary support, this plan was abandoned ; but late in
July a meeting was held in the Bella Union to further consider
the matter. Among those present was George Wright, long
engaged in coast shipping ; and he proposed to sell the control
of the Olympia.
H. Newmark & Company being considerably interested in
the movement, declared themselves ready to cooperate in
improving the situation ; for which reason great surprise was
expressed when, in December, 1871, B. L. Peel, the commission
merchant, made an attack on us, openly charging that, although
"the largest shippers in the city," we had revoked our pledge
to sustain the opposition to high freight rates, and so had con-
tributed toward defeating the enterprise! It is true that we
finally discouraged the movement, but for a good and sufficient
reason: Wright was in the steamship business for anything
but his health. His method was to put on a tramp steamer
and then cut passenger and freight rates ridiculously low,
until the regular line would buy him out; a project which, on
former occasions, had caused serious disturbances to business.
When therefore Wright made this offer, in 1871, H. Newmark
& Company forthwith refused to participate. I shall show
that, when greater necessity required it, we took the lead in
a movement against the Southern Pacific which, for lack of
loyalty on the part of many of the other shippers, met not
only with disastrous failure but considerable pecuniary loss to
ourselves.
On December i8th, 1871, Judge Murray Morrison died.
Three days later, his wife, Jennie, whom we knew as the attrac-
tive daughter of Dr. Thomas J. White, also breathed her last.
CHAPTER XXX
THE WOOL CRAZE
1872-1873
AS already stated, the price of wool in 1871 was exceedingly
high and continued advancing until in 1872 when, as
a result, great prosperity in Southern California was
predicted. Enough wool had been bought by us to make what
at that time was considered a very handsome fortune. We
commenced purchasing on the sheep's back in November,
and continued buying everything that was offered until April,
1872, when we made the first shipment, the product being sold
at forty-five cents per pound. As far as I am aware, the price
of wool had never reached fifty cents anywhere in the world,
it being ordinarily worth from ten to twelve cents ; and without
going into technicalities, which would be of no interest to the
average reader, I will merely say that forty-five cents was a tre-
mendously high figure for dirty, burry, California wool in the
grease. When the information arrived that this sale had been
effected, I became wool-crazy, the more so since I knew that
the particular shipment referred to was of very poor quality.
Colonel R. S. Baker, who was hving on his ranch in Kern
County, came to Los Angeles about that time, and we offered
him fifty cents a pound for Beale & Baker's clip amounting to
one hundred and seventy-five thousand pounds. His reply
was that it would be impossible to sell without consulting
Beale; but Beale proved as wool-crazy as I, and would not sell.
It developed that Beale & Baker did not succeed in effecting
437 ■
438 Sixty Years in Southern California [1872-
a sale in San Francisco, where they soon offered their product,
and that they concluded to ship it to Boston ; the New England
metropolis then, as now, being the most important wool-
center in the United States. Upon its arrival, the wool was
stored; and there it remained until, as Fate would have it, the
entire shipment was later destroyed in the great Boston fire
of 1872. As a result of this tremendous conflagration, the
insurance company which carried their policy failed and
Beale & Baker met with a great loss.
The brothers Philip, Eugene and Camilla Gamier of the
Encino Ranch — who, while generally operating separately,
clubbed together at that time in disposing of their product —
had a clip of wool somewhat exceeding one hundred and
fifty thousand pounds. The spokesman for the three was
Eugene, and on the same day that I made Colonel Baker
the offer of fifty cents, I told Eugene that I would allow him
forty-eight and a half cents for the Gamier product. This
offer he disdainfully refused, returning immediately to his
ranch; and now, as I look back upon the matter, I do not
believe that in my entire commercial experience I ever wit-
nessed anything demonstrating so thoroughly, as did these
wool transactions, the monstrous greed of man. The sequel,
however, points the moral. My offer to the Gamier Brothers
was made on a Friday. During that day and the next, we
received several telegrams indicating that the crest of the
craze had been reached, and that buyers refused to take hold.
On Monday following the first visit of Eugene Gamier, he again
came to town and wanted me to buy their wool at the price
which I had quoted him on Friday; but by that time we had
withdrawn from the market. My brother wired that San Fran-
cisco buyers would not touch it ; hence the Gamier Brothers also
shipped their product East and, after holding it practically
a full year, finally sold it for sixteen and a half cents a pound
in currency, which was then worth eighty-five cents on the
dollar. The year 1 872 is on record as the most disastrous wool
season in our history, when millions were lost ; and H. Newmark
& Company suffered their share in the disaster.
i873] The Wool Craze 439
It was in March that we purchased from Louis Wolf-
skill, through the instrumentality of L. J. Rose, the Santa
Anita rancho, consisting of something over eight thousand
acres, paying him eighty-five thousand dollars for this beau-
tiful domain. The terms agreed upon were twenty thousand
dollars down and four equal quarterly payments for the
balance. In the light of the aftermath, the statement that
our expectations of prospective wool profits inspired this pur-
chase seems ludicrous, but it was far from laughable at the
time; for it took less than sixty days for H. Newmark & Com-
pany to discover that buying ranches on any such basis was
not a very safe policy to follow and would, if continued, result
in disaster. Indeed, the outcome was so different from our
calculations, that it pinched us somewhat to meet our obliga-
tions to Wolfskin. This purchase, as I shall soon show, proved
a lucky one, and compensated for the earlier nervous and
financial strain. John Simmons, who drove H. Newmark &
Company's truck and slept in a barn in my back yard on Main
Street, was so reliable a man that we made him overseer of the
ranch. When we sold the property, Simmons was engaged
by Lazard Freres, the San Francisco bankers, to do special
service that involved the carrying of large sums of money.
When we bought the Santa Anita, there were five eucalyptus
or blue gum trees growing near the house. I understood at
the time that these had been planted by William Wolf skill from
seed sent to him by a friend in Australia; and that they were
the first eucalyptus trees cultivated in Southern California.
Sometime early in 1875, the Forest Grove Association started
the first extensive tract of eucalyptus trees seen in Los
Angeles, and in a decade or two the eucalyptus had become
a familiar object; one tree, belonging to Howard & Smith,
florists at the corner of Olive and Ninth streets, attaining, ' after
a growth of nineteen years, a height of one hundred and thirty-
four feet.
On the morning of March 26th, Los Angeles was visited
by an earthquake of sufficient force to throw people out of bed,
' Blown down, in a wind-storm, on the night of April 13th, 1915.
440 Sixty Years in Southern California [1872-
many men, women and children seeking safety by running out
in their night-clothes. A day or two afterward excited riders
came in from the Owens River Valley bringing reports which
showed the quake to have been the worst, so far as loss of life
was concerned, that had afflicted California since the mem-
orable catastrophe of 1812.
Intending thereby to encourage the building of railroads, the
Legislature, on April 4th, 1870, authorized the various Boards
of Supervisors to grant aid whenever the qualified voters so
elected. This seemed a great step forward, but anti-railroad
sentiment, as in the case of Banning's line, again manifested
itself here. The Southern Pacific, just incorporated as a
subsidiary of the Central Pacific, was laying its tracks down the
San Joaquin Valley; yet there was grave doubt whether it
would include Los Angeles or not. It contemplated a line
through Tehachepi Pass; but from that point two separate
surveys had been made, one by way of Soledad Pass via Los
Angeles, through costly tunnels and over heavy grades; the
other, straight to the Needles, over an almost level plain along
the Thirty-fifth parallel, as anticipated by William H. Seward
in his Los Angeles speech. At the very time when every
obstacle should have been removed, the opposition so crystal-
lized in the Legislature that a successful effort was made to
repeal the subsidy law; but thanks to our representatives, the
measure was made ineffective in Los Angeles County, should
the voters specifically endorse the project of a railroad.
In April, 1872, Tom Mott and B. D. Wilson wrote Leland
Stanford that a meeting of the taxpayers, soon to be called,
would name a committee to confer with the railroad officials;
and Stanford replied that he would send down E. W. Hyde to
speak for the company. About the first of May, however, a few
citizens gathered for consultation at the Board of Trade room;
and at that meeting it was decided unanimously to send to
San Francisco a committee of two, consisting of Governor
Downey and myself, there to convey to the Southern Pacific
Company the overtures of the City. We accordingly visited
Collis P. Huntington, whose headquarters were at the Grand
i873] The Wool Craze 44 1
Hotel ; and during our interview we canvassed the entire situa-
tion. In the course of this interesting discussion, Huntington
displayed some engineer's maps and showed us how, in his
judgment, the railroad, if constructed to Los Angeles at all,
would have to enter the city. When the time for action
arrived, the Southern Pacific built into Los Angeles along the
lines indicated in our interview with Huntington.
On Saturday afternoon. May i8th, 1872, a public meeting
was held in the Los Angeles Court-house. Governor Downey
called the assembly to order; whereupon H. K. S. O'Melveny
was elected President and Major Ben C. Truman, Secretary.
Speeches were made by Downey, Phineas Banning, B. D.
Wilson, E. J. C. Kewen and C. H. Larrabee; and resolutions
were adopted pledging financial assistance from the County,
provided the road was constructed within a given time. A
Committee was then appointed to seek general information con-
cerning railroads likely to extend their lines to Los Angeles ; and
on that Committee I had the honor of serving with F. P. F.
Temple, A. F. Coronel, H. K. S. O'Melveny, J. G. Downey, S. B.
Caswell, J. M. Griffith, Henry Dalton, Andres Pico, L. J. Rose,
General George Stoneman and D. W. Alexander. A few days
later, Wilson, Rose and W. R. Olden of Anaheim were sent
to San Francisco to discuss terms with the Southern Pacific;
and when they returned, they brought with them Stanford's
representative, Hyde. Temple, O'Melveny and I were made a
special committee to confer with Hyde in drawing up ordinances
for the County; and these statutes were immediately passed
by the Supervisors. The Southern Pacific agreed to build
fifty miles of its main trunk line through the County, with a
branch line to Anaheim ; and the County, among other condi-
tions, was to dispose of its stock in the Los Angeles & San
Pedro Railroad to the Southern Pacific Company.
When all this matter was presented to the people, the oppo-
sition was even greater than in the campaign of 1868. One
newspaper — the Evening Express — while declaring that "rail-
way companies are soulless corporations, invariably selfish,
with a love for money," even maintained that "because they
442 Sixty Years in Southern California [1872-
are rich, they have no more right to build to us than has
Governor Downey to build our schoolhouses." Public ad-
dresses were made to excited, demonstrative audiences by
Henry T. Hazard, R. M. Widney and others who favored the
Southern Pacific. On the evening of November 4th, or the
night before the election, the Southern Pacific adherents held
a torchlight procession and a mass-meeting, at the same time
illuminating the pueblo with the customary bonfires. When
the vote was finally counted, it was found that the Southern
Pacific had won by a big majority; and thus was made the
first concession to the railroad which has been of such para-
mount importance in the development of this section of the
State.
In 1872, Nathaniel C. Carter, who boasted that he made for
the Government the first American flag woven by machinery,
purchased and settled upon a part of the Flores rancho near
San Gabriel. Through wide advertising, Carter attracted
his Massachusetts friends to this section; and in 1874 he
started the Carter excursions and brought train-loads of people
to Los Angeles.
Terminating a series of wanderings by sea and by land,
during which he had visited California in 1849, John Lang,
father of Gustav J. (once a Police Commissioner), came to Los
Angeles for permanent residence in 1872, bringing a neat little
pile of gold. With part of his savings he purchased the five
acres since known as the Laurel Tract on Sixteenth Street, where
he planted an orchard, and some of the balance he put into a
loan for which, against his will, he had to take over the lot on
Spring Street between Second and Third where the Lang Build-
ing now stands. Soon after his advent here, Lang found himself
one of four persons of the same name, which brought about such
confusion between him, the pioneer at Lang's Station and two
others, that the bank always labelled him "Lang No. i," while
it called the station master "Lang No. 2." In 1866, Lang
had married, in Victoria, Mrs. Rosine Everhardt a sister of
Mrs. Kiln Messer ; and his wife refusing to live at the lonesome
ranch, Lang bought, for four hundred dollars, the lot on Fort
1873] The Wool Craze 443
Street on which Tally's Theater now stands, and built there a
modest home from which he went out daily to visit his orchard.
Being of an exceedingly studious turn of mind, Lang devoted
his spare time to profitable reading ; and to such an extent had
he secluded himself that, when he died, on December 9th, 1900,
he had passed full thirty years here without having seen Santa
Monica or Pasadena. Nor had he entered the courtroom more
than once, and then only when compelled to go there to release
some property seized upon for taxes remaining unpaid by one
of the other John Langs. Regarded by his family as ideal-
istic and kind-hearted, John Lang was really such a hermit
that only with difficulty were friends enough found who could
properly serve as pall-bearers.
On June 2d, B. F. Ramirez and others launched the
Spanish newspaper. La Cronica, from the control of which
Ramirez soon retired to make way for E. F. de Cells. Under
the latter' s leadership, the paper became notable as a Coast
organ for the Latin race. Almost simultaneously, A. J. King
and A. Waite pubUshed their City Directory.
On the seventeenth of July our family circle was gladdened
by the wedding festivities of Kaspare Cohn and Miss Hulda,
sister of M. A. Newmark. The bride had been living with us
for some time as a member of our family.
I have spoken of the attempt made, in 1859, to found a
Public Library. In 1872, there was another agitation that led
to a mass-meeting on December 7th, in the old Merced Theatre
on Main Street ; and among others present were Judge Ygnacio
Sepiilveda, General George H. Stoneman, Governor John G.
Downey, Henry Kirk White Bent, S. B. Caswell, W. J. Brod-
rick. Colonel G. H. Smith, W. B. Lawlor and myself. The Los
Angeles Library Association was formed; and Downey, Bent,
Brodrick, Caswell and I were appointed to canvas for funds
and donations of books. Fifty dollars was charged for a
life membership, and five dollars for yearly privileges; and
besides these subscriptions, donations and loans of books main-
tained the Library. The institution was estabHshed in four
small, dark rooms of the old Downey Block on Temple and
444 Sixty Years in Southern California [1872-
Spring streets, where the Federal Building now stands, and where
the Times, then the youngest newspaper in Los Angeles, was
later housed; and there J. C. Littlefield acted as the first Libra-
rian. In 1874, the State Legislature passed an enabling act for
a Public Library in Los Angeles, and from that time on public
funds contributed to the support of the worthy undertaking.
On January ist, 1873, M. A. Newmark, who had come to
Los Angeles eight years before, was admitted into partnership
with H. Newmark & Company; and three years later, on
February 27th, he married Miss Harriet, daughter of J. P.
Newmark. Samuel Cohn having died, the associates then
were: Kaspare Cohn, M. J. Newmark, M. A. Newmark and
myself.
On February ist, 1873, two job printers, Yarnell & Caystile,
who had opened a little shop at 14 Commercial Street, began
to issue a diminutive paper called the Weekly Mirror, with
four pages but ten by thirteen inches in size and three columns
to the page ; and this miniature news-sheet, falling wet from the
press every Saturday, was distributed free. Success greeted
the advertising venture and the journal was known as the
smallest newspaper on the Coast. A month later, William
M. Brown joined the firm, thenceforth called Yarnell, Caystile
& Brown. On March 19th, the publishers added a column to
each page, announcing, rather prophetically perhaps, their
intention of attaining a greatness that should know no obstacle
or limit. In November, the Mirror was transferred to a build-
ing on Temple Street, near the Downey Block, erected for its
special needs; and there it continued to be published until, in
1887, it was housed with the Times.
Nels Williamson, to whom I have referred, married a native
Calif ornian, and their eldest daughter, Mariana, in 1873
became the wife of Antonio Franco Coronel, the gay couple
settling in one of the old pueblo adobes on the present site of
Bishop & Company's factory; and there they were visited by
Helen Hunt Jackson when she came here in the early eighties.
In 1886, the}'' moved opposite to the home that Coronel built
on the southwest corner of Seventh Street and Central Avenue.
i873l The Wool Craze 445
Educated here at the public and the Sisters' schools, Mrs.
Coronel was a recognized leader in local society, proving very-
serviceable in the preparation of Ramona and receiving, in
return, due acknowledgment from the distinguished authoress
who presented her with the first copy of the book published.
Daniel Freeman, a Canadian who came in 1873, was one of
many to be attracted to California through NordhofE's famous
book. After looking at many ranches. Freeman inspected the
Centinela with Sir Robert Burnett, the Scotch owner then
living there. Burnett insisted that the ranch was too dry for
farming and cited his own necessity of buying hay at thirty
dollars a ton ; but Freeman purchased the twenty-five thousand
acres, stocked them with sheep and continued long in that busi-
ness, facing many a difficulty attendant upon the dry seasons,
notably in 1875-76, when he lost fully twenty-two thousand
head.
L. H. Titus, who bought from J. D. Woodworth the land
in his San Gabriel orchard and vineyard, early used iron water-
pipes for irrigation. A bold venture of the same year was the
laying of iron water-pipes throughout East Los Angeles, at
great expense, by Dr. John S. Griffin and Governor John G.
•Downey. About the same time, the directors of the Orange
Grove Association which as we shall later see founded Pasadena,
used iron pipe for conducting water, first to a good reservoir
and then to their lands, for irrigating. In 1873 also, the
Alhambra Tract, then beginning to be settled as a fashionable
suburb of Los Angeles, obtained its water supply through the
efforts of B. D. Wilson and his son-in-law, J. De Barth Shorb,
who constructed large reservoirs near the San Gabriel Mission,
piped water to Alhambra and sold it to local consumers.
James R. Toberman, destined to be twice rechosen Mayor
of Los Angeles, was first elected in 1873, defeating Crist6bal
Aguilar, an honored citizen of early days, who had thrice been
Mayor and was again a candidate. Toberman made a record
for fiscal reform by reducing the City's indebtedness over thirty
thousand dollars and leaving a balance of about twenty-five
thousand in the Treasury; while, at the same time, he caused
446 Sixty Years in Southern California [1872-
the tax-rate during his administration to dwindle, from one
dollar and sixty cents per hundred to one dollar. Toberman
Street bears this Mayor's name.
In 1873, President Grant appointed Henry Kirk White
Bent, who had arrived in 1868, Postmaster of Los Angeles.
The several agitations for protection against fire had, for a
long time no tangible results — due most probably to the lack of
water facilities ; but after the incorporation of the Los Angeles
Water Company and the introduction of two or three hydrants,
thirty-eight loyal citizens of the town in April organized
themselves into the first volunteer fire company, popularly
termed the 38's, imposing a fee of a dollar a month. Some of
the yeomen who thus set the ball a-roUing were Major Ben C.
Truman, Tom Rowan, W. J. Brodrick, Jake Kuhrts, Charley
Miles, George Tiffany, Aaron Smith, Henry T. Hazard, Cameron
E. Thom, Fred Eaton, Matthew Keller, Dr. J. S. Crawford,
Sidney Lacey, John Cashin and George P. McLain; and such
was their devotion to the duty of both allaying and producing
excitement, that it was a treat to stand by the side of the dusty
street and watch the boys, bowling along, answer the fire-bell
— the fat as well as the lean hitched to their one hose-cart. This
cart, pulled by men, was known as the jumper^a name widely
used among early volunteer firemen and so applied because, when
the puffing and blowing enthusiasts drew the cart after them, by
means of ropes, the two-wheeled vehicle jumped from point to
point along the uneven surface of the road. The first engine of
the 38's, known as Fire Engine No. i, was housed, I think,
back of the Pico House, but was soon moved to a building on
Spring Street near Franklin and close to the City Hall.
About 1873, or possibly 1874, shrimps first appeared in the
local market.
In 1873, the Los Angeles Daily News suspended publication.
A. J. King had retired on the first of January, 1870, to be suc-
ceeded by Charles E. Beane; on October loth, 1872, Alonzo
Waite had sold his interest and Beane alone was at the helm
when the ship foundered.
To resume the narrative of the Daily Star. In July, Henry
i873] The Wool Craze 447
Hamilton sold both the paper and the job-printing office for
six thousand dollars to Major Ben C. Truman, and the
latter conducted the Star for three or four years, filling it
brimful of good things just as his more fiery predecessor had
done.
John Lang — "number two " — the cultivator of fruit on what
was afterward Washington Gardens, who established Lang's Sta-
tion and managed the sulphur springs and the hotel there, in
July killed a bear said to have been one of the grizzliest grizzlies
ever seen on the Coast. Lang started after Mr. Bruin and,
during an encounter in the San Fernando range that nearly cost
his life, finally shot him. The bear tipped the beam — forbid it
that anyone should question the reading of the scales ! — at two
thousand, three hundred and fifty pounds; and later, as gossip
had it, the pelt was sold to a museum in Liverpool, England.
This adventure, which will doubtless bear investigation, recalls
another hunt, by Colonel William Butts, later editor of the
Southern Calif ornian, in which the doughty Colonel, while rolling
over and over with the infuriated beast, plunged a sharp blade
into the animal's vitals; but only after Butts's face, arms and
legs had been horribly lacerated. Butts's bear, a hundred
hunters in San Luis Obispo County might have told you,
weighed twenty-one hundred pounds — or more.
Dismissing these bear stories, some persons may yet be
interested to learn of the presence here, in earlier days, of the
ferocious wild boar. These were met with, for a long time,
in the wooded^ districts of certain mountainous land-tracts
owned by the Abilas, and there wild swine were hunted as late
as 1873.
In the summer, D. M. Berry, General Nathan Kimball,
Calvin Fletcher and J. H. Baker came to Los Angeles from
IndianapoUs, representing the California Colony of Indiana, a
cooperative association which proposed to secure land for
Hoosiers who wished to found a settlement in Southern Cali-
fornia. This scheme originated with Dr. Thomas Balch ElHott
of Indianapolis, Berry's brother-in-law and an army surgeon
who had estabHshed the first grain elevator in Indiana and
44^ Sixty Years ia Southern California [1872-
whose wife, now ill, could no longer brave the severe winters of
the middle West.
Soon after their arrival. Wall Street's crash brought ruin to
many subscribers and the members of the committee found them-
selves stranded in Los Angeles. Berry opened a real estate
office on Main Street near Arcadia, for himself and the absent
Elliott; and one day, at the suggestion of Judge B. S. Eaton,
Baker visited the San Pasqual rancho, then in almost primeval
glory, and was so pleased with what he saw that he per-
suaded Fletcher to join Dr. Elliott, Thomas H. Croft of
Indianapolis and himself in incorporating the San Gabriel
Orange Grove Association, with one hundred shares at two
hundred and fifty dollars each. The Association then bought
out Dr. J. S. Griffin's interest, or some four thousand acres in
the ranch, paying about twelve dollars and a half per acre,
after which some fifteen hundred of the choicest acres were
subdivided into tracts of from fifteen to sixty acres each.
Xhe San Pasqual settlement was thus called for a while
the Indiana Colony, though but a handful of Hoosiers had
actually joined the movement; and Dr. and Mrs. Elliott, reach-
ing Los Angeles on December ist, 1874, immediately took
possession of their grant on the banks of the Arroyo Seco near
the Fremont Trail. On April 226., 1875, The Indiana Colony
was discontinued as the name of the settlement ; it being seen
that a more attractive title should be selected. Dr. Elliott
wrote to a college-mate in the East for an appropriate Indian
name ; and Pasadena was adopted as Chippewa for ' ' Crown of
the Valley." Linguists, I am informed, do not endorse the
word as Indian of any kind, but it is a musical name, and now
famous and satisfactory. Dr. Elliott threw all his energy into
the cultivation of oranges, but it was not long before he saw,
with a certain prophetic vision, that not the fruit itself, but the
health-giving and charming qualities of the San Pasqual cli-
mate were likely to prove the real asset of the colonists and the
foundation of their prosperity. Pasadena and South Pasadena,
therefore, owe their existence largely to the longing of a frail
Indiana woman for a less rigorous climate and her dream that
i873] The Wool Craze 449
in the sunny Southland along the Pacific she should find health
and happiness.
M. J. Newmark was really instrumental, more than any-
one else, in first persuading D. M. Berry to come to California.
He had met Berry in New York and talked to him of the
possibiHty of buying the Santa Anita rancho, which we were
then holding for sale ; and on his return he traveled homeward
by way of Indiana, stopping off at Indianapolis in order to
bring Berry out here to see the property. Owing to the high
price asked, however, Berry and his associates could not ne-
gotiate the purchase, and so the matter was dropped.
Lawson D. HoUingsworth and his wife, Lucinda, Quakers
from Indiana, opened the first grocery at the crossroads in the
new settlement, and for many years were popularly spoken of
as Grandpa and Grandma HolHngsworth. Dr. H. T. HoUings-
worth, their son, now of Los Angeles, kept the Post Office in the
grocery, receiving from the Government for his services the
munificent sum of — twenty -five cents a week.
The summer of 1873 was marked by the organization of a
corporation designed to advance the general business interests
of Los Angeles and vicinity. This was the Chamber of Com-
merce or, as it was at first called, the Board of Trade ; and had
its origin in a meeting held on August ist in the old Court-
House on the site of the present BuUard Block. Ex-Governor
John G. Downey was called to the chair; and J. M. Griffith was
made Secretary pro tern. Before the next meeting, over one
hundred representative merchants registered for membership,
and on August 9th, a constitution and by-laws were adopted,
a board of eleven Directors elected and an admission fee of five
dollars agreed upon. Two days later, the organization was
incorporated, with J. G. Downey, S. Lazard, M. J. Newmark,
H. W. Hellman, P. Beaudry, S. B. Caswell, Dr. J. S. Griffin,
R. M. Widney, C. C. Lips, J. M. Griffith and I. W. Lord, as
Directors; and these officers chose Solomon Lazard as the first
President and I. W. Lord as the first Secretary. Judge
Widney's office in the Temple Block was the meeting-place.
The Chamber unitedly and enthusiastically set to work to
450 Sixty Years in Southern California [1873-
push forward the commercial interests of Southern CaUfornia;
and the first appropriation by Congress for the survey and
improvement of San Pedro Harbor was effected mainly through
the new society's efforts. Descriptive pamphlets setting forth
the advantages of our locality were distributed throughout the
East ; and steps were taken to build up the trade with Arizona
and the surrounding territory. In this way the Chamber of
Commerce labored through the two or three succeeding years,
until bank failures, droughts and other disasters, of which I
shall speak, threw the cold blanket of discouragement over
even so commendable an enterprise and for the time being
its activities ceased.
On October 3d, C. A. Storke founded the Daily and Weekly
Herald, editing the paper until August, 1874 when J. M.
Bassett became its editor. In a few months he retired and
John M. Baldwin took up the quill.
In the autumn of 1873, Barnard Brothers set in operation
the first woolen mill here, built in 1868 or 1869 by George
Hansen and his associates in the Canal and Reservoir Com-
pany. It was located on the ditch along the canon of the
Arroyo de Los Reyes — now Figueroa Street; and for fifteen
years or more was operated by the Barnards and the Coulters,
after which it was turned into an ice factory.
In March of the preceding year, I sent my son Maurice
to New York, expecting him there to finish his education.
It was thought best, however, to allow him, in 1873, to pro-
ceed across the ocean and on to Paris where he might also
learn the French language, at that time an especially valuable
acquisition in Los Angeles. To this latter decision I was led
when Zadoc Kahn, Grand Rabbi of Paris and afterward Grand
Rabbi of France, and a brother-in-law of Eugene Meyer,
signified his wiUingness to take charge of the lad; and for three
years the Grand Rabbi and his excellent wife well fulfilled
their every obligation as temporary guardians. How great
an advantage, indeed, this was will be readily recognized by
all familiar with the published life of Zadoc Kahn and his
reputation as a scholar and pulpit orator. He was a man
i873] The Wool Craze 45 1
of the highest ideals, as was proved in his unflinching activity,
with Emile Zola, in the defense and liberation of the long-
persecuted Dreyfus.
Sometime in December, L. C. Tibbetts, one of the early
colonists at Riverside, received a small package from a friend
at Washington, D. C, after having driven sixty-five miles to Los
Angeles to get it ; and he took it out of the little express ofifice
without attracting any more attention than to call forth the
observation of the clerk that some one must care a lot about
farming to make so much fuss about two young trees. '"Tis
nothing, says the fool!" The package in question contained
two small orange trees from Bahia, Brazil, brought to the
United States by the Agricultural Department and destined
to bestow upon Tibbetts the honor of having originated the
navel orange industry of California.
In 1873, Drum Barracks at Wilmington were offered by the
Government at public auction; and what had cost a million
dollars or so to install, was knocked down for less than ten
thousand dollars to B. D. Wilson, who donated it for
educational purposes.
During the winter of 1873-74, the Southern Pacific com-
menced the construction of its Anaheim branch; and the first
train from Los Angeles to the thriving, expectant German
settlement made the run in January, 1875.
Max Cohn, a nephew, arrived in Los Angeles in 1873 and
clerked for H. Newmark & Company for a number of years.
In December, 1885, when I retired from the wholesale grocery
business. Max became a full partner. In 1888, failing health
compelled him, although a young man, to seek European
medical advice ; and he entered a sanatorium at Falkenstein, in
the Taimus Mountains where, in 1889, he died.
CHAPTER XXXI
THE END OF VASQUEZ
1874
ALTHOUGH a high school had been proposed for Los
Angeles as early as i860, it was not until 1873, during
Dr. W. T. Lucky's superintendency and under his
teaching, that high-school courses were inaugurated here.
Then the more advanced students were accommodated in the
schoolhouse on Pound Cake Hill, where the Court-house now
stands ; and from this humble beginning the present high-school
system of Los Angeles has been evolved. Later, under Dr. T.
H. Rose's leadership, the grammar departments were removed
to the other school buildings and the High School was conducted
as an independent institution.
In 1874, S. Lazard & Company dissolved, Eugene and
Constant Meyer succeeding, on June 15th, under the firm
name of Eugene Meyer & Company or, as the store was better
known, the City of Paris.
Charles H., or Charley White, long prominent in the
passenger department of the Southern Pacific, entered the
service of the Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad in 1874, ^.s
John Milner's assistant, and soon became the regular ticket-
agent here. After forty years of invaluable service, he is still
with the Southern Pacific occupying the important position of
Chief Clerk of the General Passenger Office.
George H. Peck, County Superintendent of Schools be-
tween 1874 and 1876, was a Vermonter who came in 1869
and bought five hundred acres of land near El Monte. On his
452
VfASiyup/ (Wirt \a'is VjO^Iovs
Vasquez and his Captors
{Top) D. K. Smith, {Middle) Albert Johnson, {Bottom) Emil Harris,
William R. Rowland, Greek George's Home, Tibiircio \'asquez,
Walter E. Rodgers. G. A. Beers. J. S. Bryant.
,^4K'^fU
Greek George
Nicolas Martinez
[i874] The End of Vasquez 453
first visit to the Coast, Peck handled hay in San Francisco
when it was worth two hundred dollars a ton ; then he mined a
little; and subsequently he opened the first public school in
Sacramento and the first industrial school in San Francisco.
Andrew A. Weinschank, a veteran of the Battle of Vera
Cruz who came to Los Angeles in 1856, died on February i6th,
1874. For a while, he sold home-made sauerkraut, pickles and
condiments, and was one of a well-known family in the German
pioneer group here. Carrie, one of Weinschank's daughters,
married a circus man named Lee who made periodical visits to
Los Angeles, erecting a small tent, at first somewhere in the
neighborhood of the present Times Building, in which to con-
duct his show. Later, Polly Lee became a rider in the circus
and with her father electrified the youth of the town when Lee,
in the character of Dick Turpin, and mounted on his charger,
Black Bess, carried off the weeping Polly to his den of free-
booters. A son, Frank A. Weinschank, was a pioneer plumber.
In the early seventies, while the Southern Pacific Railway
was building from San Francisco to San Jose, some twelve or
fifteen bandits, carousing at a country dance in the Mexican
settlement, Panama (about six miles south of Bakersfield)
planned to cross the mountains and hold up the pay-car. They
were unsuccessful; whereupon, they turned their attention to
the village of Tres Pinos, robbed several store-keepers and
killed three or four men. They were next heard of at little
Kingston, in Tulare County, where they plundered practically
the whole town. Then they once more disappeared.
Presently various clues pointed to the identity of the chief
bandido as one Tiburcio Vasquez, born in Monterey in the
thirties, who had taken to the life of an outlaw because, as he
fantastically said, some Gringos had insolently danced off with
the prettiest girls at fandangos, among them being his sweet-
heart whom an American had wronged. With the exception of
his Lieutenant, Chavez, he trusted no one, and when he
moved from place to place, Chavez alone accompanied him.
In each new field he recruited a new gang, and he never slept
in camp with his followers.
454 Sixty Years in Southern California [1874
Although trailed by several sheriffs, Vasquez escaped to
Southern California leading off the wife of one of his associ-
ates— a bit of gallantry that contributed to his undoing, as
the irate husband at once gave the officers much information
concerning Vasquez 's life and methods. One day in the
spring of 1874, Vasquez and three of his companions appeared
at the ranch of Alessandro Repetto, nine miles from town,
disguised as sheep-shearers. The following morning, while the
inmates of the ranch-house were at breakfast, the highwaymen
entered the room and held up the defenceless household.
Vasquez informed Repetto that he was organizing a revolution
in Lower California and merely desired to borrow the trifling
sum of eight hundred dollars. Repetto replied that he had no
money in the house; but Vasquez compelled the old man to
sign a check for the sum demanded, and immediately dis-
patched to town a boy working for Repetto, with the strict
injunction that if he did not return with the money alone, and
soon, his master would be shot.
When the check was presented at the Temple & Workman
Bank, Temple, who happened to be there, became suspicious
but could elicit from the messenger no satisfactory response
to his questions. The bank was but a block from the Court-
house; and when Sheriff Rowland hurriedly came, in answer to
a summons, he was inclined to detain the lad. The boy, how-
ever, pleaded so hard for Repetto's life that the Sheriff agreed
to the messenger's returning alone with the money. Soon
after, Rowland and several deputies started out along the
same trail; but a lookout sighted the approaching horsemen
and gave the alarm. Vasquez and his associates took to
flight and were pursued as far as Tejunga Pass; but as the cut-
throats were mounted on fresh horses, they escaped. Even while
being pursued, Vasquez had the audacity to fleece a party of
men in the employ of the Los Angeles Water Company who
were doing some work near the Alhambra Tract. The well-
known Angeleno and engineer in charge, Charles E. Miles, was
relieved of an expensive gold watch.
In April, 1874, Sheriff Rowland heard that Vasquez
i874] The End of Vasquez 455
had visited the home of "Greek George" — the Smyrniot
camel-driver to whom I have referred — and who was Uving
about ten miles from Los Angeles, near the present location of
Hollywood. Rowland took into his confidence D. K. Smith
and persuaded him to stroll that way, ostensibly as a farmer's
hand seeking employment ; and within two weeks Smith reported
to Rowland that the information as to Vasquez's whereabouts
was correct. Rowland then concluded to make up a posse, but
inasmuch as a certain element kept Vasquez posted regarding
the Sheriff's movements, Rowland had to use great precaution.
Anticipating this emergency, City Detective Emil Harris — four
years later Chief of Police — had been quietly transferred to the
Sheriff's office; in addition to whom, Rowland selected Albert
Johnson, Under Sheriff; B. F. Hartley, a local policeman;
J. S. Bryant, City Constable; Major Henry M. Mitchell, an
attorney; D. K. Smith; Walter Rodgers, proprietor of the Palace
Saloon ; and G. A. Beers, a correspondent of the San Francisco
Chronicle. All these were ordered to report, one by one with
their horses, shortly after midnight, at Jones's Corral on Spring
Street near Seventh. Arms and ammunition, carefully
packed, were likewise smuggled in. Whether true or not that
Vasquez would speedily be informed of the Sheriff's where-
abouts, it is certain that, in resolving not to leave his office,
Rowland sacrificed, for the public weal, such natural ambition
that he cannot be too much applauded; not even the later
reward of eight thousand dollars really compensating him for
his disappointment.
By half -past one o'clock in the morning, the eight members
of the posse were all in the saddle and silently following a
circuitous route. At about daybreak, in dense fog, they camped
at the mouth of Nichols's Canyon — two miles away from the
house of Greek George — where Charles Knowles, an Ameri-
can, was living. When the fog lifted, Johnston, Mitchell,
Smith and Bryant worked their way to a point whence they
could observe Greek George's farm; and Bryant, returning to
camp, reported that a couple of gray horses had been seen
tied near the ranch-house. Shortly thereafter, a four-horse
456 Sixty Years in Southern California [1874,
empty wagon, driven by two Mexicans, went by the canon
and was immediately stopped and brought in. The Mexicans
were put in charge of an officer, and about the same time
Johnston came tearing down the ravine with the startling
statement that Vasquez was undoubtedly at Greek George's !
A quick consultation ensued and it was decided by the
posse to approach their goal in the captured vehicle, leaving
their own horses in charge of Knowles ; and having warned the
Mexicans that they would be shot if they proved treacherous,
the deputies climbed into the wagon and lay down out of sight.
When a hundred yards from the house, the officers stealthily
scattered in various directions. Harris, Rodgers and Johnston
ran to the north side, and Hartley and Beers to the west.
Through an open door, Vasquez was seen at the breakfast table,
and Harris, followed by the others, made a quick dash for the
house. A woman waiting on Vasquez attempted to shut the
officers out ; but Harris injected his rifle through the half -open
door and prevented her. During the excitement, Vasquez
climbed through a little window, and Harris, yelling, "There
he goes!" raised his Henry rifle and shot at him. By the time
Harris had reached the other side of the house, Vasquez was a
hundred feet away and running like a deer toward his horse. In
the meantime, first Hartley and then the other officers used their
shotguns and slightly wounded him again. Vasquez then threw
up his hands, saying: "Boys, you've done well! but I've been
a damned fool, and it's my own fault!" The identity of the
bandit thus far had not been established; and when Harris
asked his name, he answered, "Alessandro Martinez."' In
the meantime, captors and prisoner entered the house; and
Vasquez, who was weakened from his wounds, sat down, while
the young woman implored the officers not to kill him. At
closer range, a good view was obtained of the man who had so
long terrorized the State. He was about five feet six or seven
inches in height, sparely built, with small feet and hands —
in that respect by no means suggesting the desperado — with
' Not the Spanish Alejandro; a variation doubtless suggested by the Italian
Repetto's forename.
i874] The End of Vasquez 457
a low forehead, black, coarse hair and mustache, and furtive,
cunning eyes.
By this time, the entire posse, excepting Mitchell and Smith
(who had followed a man seen to leave Greek George's) , pro-
ceeded to search the house. The first door opened revealed
a young fellow holding a baby in his arms. He, the most
youthful member of the organization, had been placed on
guard. There were no other men in the house, although four
rifles and six pistols, all loaded and ready for use, were found.
Fearing no such raid, the other outlaws were afield in the
neighborhood; and being warned by the firing, they escaped.
One of Vasquez's guns, by the way, has been long preserved
by the family of Francisco Ybarra and now rests secure in
the County Museum.
Underneath one of the beds was found Vasquez's vest
containing Charley Miles's gold watch, which Harris at once
recognized. The prisoner was asked whether he was seriously
hurt and he said that he expected to die, at the same time
admitting that he was Vasquez and asking Harris to write
down some of his bequests. He said that he was a single man,
although he had two children living at Elizabeth Lake ; and he
exhibited portraits of them. He protested that he had never
killed a human being, and said that the murders at Tres Pinos
were due to Chavez's disobedience of orders.
The officers borrowed a wagon from Judge Thompson — who
lived in the neighborhood — into which they loaded Vasquez, the
boy and the weapons, and so proceeded on their way. When
they arrived near town, Smith and Mitchell caught up with
them. Mitchell was then sent to give advance notice of Vas-
quez's capture and to have medical help on hand; and by the
time the party arrived, the excitement was intense. ' The City
Fathers, then in session, rushed out pellmell and crowds sur-
rounded the Jail. Dr. K. D. Wise, Health Officer, and Dr. J.
P. Widney, County Physician, administered treatment to the
captive. Vasquez, in irons, pleaded that he was dying ; but Dr.
Widney, as soon as he had examined the captive, warned the
Sheriff that the prisoner, if he escaped, would still be game for a
458 Sixty Years in Southern California [1874
long day's ride. Everybody who could, visited him and I was
no exception. I was disgusted, however, when I found Vas-
quez's cell filled with flowers, sent by some white women of
Los Angeles who had been carried away by the picturesque
career of the bandido; but Sheriff Rowland soon stopped all
such foolish exuberance.
Vasquez admitted that he had frequently visited Mexicans
in Los Angeles, doing this against the advice of his lieutenant,
Chavez, who had warned him that Sheriff Rowland also had
good friends among the Mexicans.
Among those said to have been in confidential touch with
Vasquez was Mariano G. Santa Cruz, a prominent figure, in
his way, in Sonora Town. He kept a grocery about three
hundred feet from the old Plaza Church, on the east side of
Upper Main Street, and had a curiously-assorted household.
There on many occasions, it is declared, Vasquez found a safe
refuge.
Five days after the capture, Signor Repetto called upon the
prisoner, who was in chains, and remarked: "I have come
to say that, so far as / am concerned, you can settle that little
account with God Almighty!" Vasquez, with characteristic
flourishes, thanked the Italian and began to speak of repay-
ment, when Repetto replied: "I do not expect that. But I
beg of you, if ever you resume operations, never to visit me
again." Whereupon Vasquez, placing his hand dramatically
upon his breast, exclaimed: "Ah, Seiior, I am a cavalier,
with a cavalier's heart!" — /Senor Repetto, yo soy un cdballero,
con el corazon de un caballero!
As soon as Vasquez's wounds were healed, he was taken by
Sheriff Rowland to Tres Pinos and there indicted for murder.
Miller & Liix, the great cattle owners, furnished the money, it
was understood, for his defense — supposedly as a matter of
policy. His attorneys asked for, and obtained, a change of
venue, and Vasquez was removed to San Jose. There he was
promptly tried, found guilty and, in March, 1875, hanged.
Many good anecdotes were long told of Vasquez; one of
which was that he could size up a man quickly, as to whether
i874] The End of Vasquez 459
he was a native son or not, by the direction in which he
would roll a cigarette — toward or away from himself! As
soon as the long-feared bandit was in captivity, local wits
began to joke at his expense. A burlesque on Vasquez was
staged late in May at the Merced Theater; and the day the
outlaw was captured, a merchant began his advertisement:
"Vasquez says that Mendel Meyer has the Finest and
Most Complete Stock of Dry Goods and Clothing, etc."
In the spring of 1874, Charles Maclay, with whom were
associated George K. and F. B. Porter, purchased the San
Fernando rancho which consisted of fifty-six thousand acres
and embraced the old Spanish Mission; and on April 20th,
Maclay invited fifty of his friends to a picnic on his newly-
acquired possession. During the day some one suggested
founding a town there. The name of the new settlement was
to be decided by a vote of the participants, and almost unani-
mously they selected the title of San Fernando. Within a
couple of weeks, hundreds of lots were sold and the well-known
colony was soon on the way to prosperity. Boring for petro-
leum commenced in the San Fernando Mountains about that
time, and the new town became the terminus of the Southern
Pacific until the long tunnel was completed. Maclay, who was
a native of Massachusetts, came to California at about the
same time as I did; he was at first a tanner in Santa Cruz,
but later came south and, entering into politics in addition to
his other activities, became State Senator, in which position
he attained considerable local prominence.
A charming home of the seventies was that of Dr. and Mrs.
Shaw, pioneers situated, as I recollect, on San Pedro Street
perhaps as far south as what is now Adams. They conducted
a diversified nursery, including some orange trees, to obtain
which Shaw had journeyed all the way to Nicaragua.
Toward the end of April, 1874, General E. F. Beale and
Colonel R. S. Baker, representing themselves and New York
capitalists, sought support for a new railroad project — a
single-track line to run from this city to Shoo-Fly Landing,
located, I think, near the present Playa del Rey and con-
46o Sixty Years in Southern California [1874
siderably north of San Pedro; where a town, Truxton —
doubtless named after the General's son — was to be founded.
The proposed railway was to be known as the Los Angeles &
Truxton Railroad, with a route from the western part of the
city in the direction of Cienega and the Rincon de los Bueyes,
and along a corner of the Ballona. The estimated length of
the line was fourteen miles, and the projectors claimed that it
would enable the Angeleno to reach San Francisco within thirty
hours, with but one night at sea, and so add to the comfort,
convenience and cheapness of passenger travel. A new harbor
and an additional pier stretching far into the ocean were to
be features of the enterprise; but for some reason or other,
nothing grew out of the movement. As late as the following
September, the promoters were still interviewing councilmen
and ranch-owners; but the Los Angeles & Truxton Railroad
remained a mere fancy of the financier and engineer.
For a resort that never came to be settled by a community,
Truxton acquired some fame in the early seventies, a rumor
also being current in the summer of 1874 that a fine sea-shore
hotel was to be built there. A clipping before me of the same
date even says that ' ' the roads to Santa Monica, Truxton and
Will Tell's are in splendid order — the former being the finest
natural highway on the Pacific Coast."
F. X. Eberle and wife, Marsetes, came here in 1874, bought
six or seven acres on the corner of San Pedro and the present
Eighth streets, and fitted up the City Gardens, with bowling
alleys, swings, lawns and bowers, erecting there also a pictur-
esque windmill.
I have expressed the surprise that I felt, when, upon my re-
turn from New York in 1868, I observed that the approaches
to the hills were dotted here and there with little homes. This
extension of the residence area, together with the general lack
of street and sidewalk improvements making travel to and
from the town somewhat inconvenient, suggested, I have no
doubt, the need of the first street railroad here. In 1869, Judge
R. M. Widney, together with his associates, obtained a fifty-
year franchise; and by 1874, ^^^ liftle Spring and Sixth Street
i874] The End of Vasquez 461
line— in time bought by S. C. Hubbell and J. E. HoUen-
beck — had been built and was in operation. It is my re-
collection that this line (partly paid for by subscriptions from
property owners along the selected route, each of whom con-
tributed fifty cents per running foot) began at the Plaza and
extended as far out as Pearl and Sixth streets by way of Main,
Spring, First, Fort, Fourth, Hill, Fifth and Olive; and that it
was at the Sixth and Pearl Street terminus that the almost
miniature wooden barn was put up. For the convenience
of the traveling public, two bob-tailed, one-horse cars with a
small platform at each end were used over a single track
approximately but two and a half miles in length; and to
permit these cars to pass each other when they met halfway
along the line, a turnout or side-track was constructed.
Many a time at such a siding have I wasted precious minutes
awaiting the arrival of the other, belated car; and the annoy-
ance of these delays was accentuated when, in winter, the cars
stuck in the mud and often required an hour or more to make
the run from one end of the line to the other. Indeed, the ties
having been laid almost on the surface of the streets, service in
bad weather was sometimes suspended altogether. Each car
was in charge of a driver who also acted as conductor and was
permitted to stop as often as he pleased to take on or let off
passengers; and while the single horse or mule jogged along
slowly, the driver, having wound his reins around the handle
of the brake, would pass through the never-crowded vehicle
and take up the fares. Single rides cost ten cents ; four tickets
were sold for two bits; and twenty tickets were given for a
dollar. So provincial was the whole enterprise that passengers
were expected to purchase their tickets either at W. J. Brod-
rick's book store or of Dr. Fred. P. Howard, the druggist. At a
later period, a metal box with a glass front was installed, into
which the passenger was required to drop his coin or ticket.
In those modest days, small compensation in public utility
enterprises — if such they could be called — was quite acceptable ;
and since the Spring and Sixth Street line had proven rather
profitable, it was not long before W. J. Brodrick, Governor
462 Sixty Years in Southern California I1874
Downey, O. W. Childs, Dave Waldron, I. W. Hellman and
others inaugurated a second horse-railway. This was popu-
larly known as the Main Street line and extended straight down
Main Street from Temple Block to Washington Gardens.
Much the same kind of equipment was used, one horse or mule
poking along with a bob-tailed car in tow, seating at most eight
or ten passengers ; but the fare for adults was ten cents, and for
children five. At night, the motor power and the couple of cars
were housed in a barn at either Main or Washington Street.
Soon after this line was in running order, it was extended
from Washington south to Jefferson, out Jefferson to Wesley
(now University) Avenue, and thence to the race-track at
Agricultural Park; and there the shed for this section was
erected. Still later, a branch was built out Washington Street
to Figueroa, and down Figueroa to Jefferson, where it connected
with the first extension. No formal transfers were made,
transfer-tickets first coming into vogue in Los Angeles about
1889. Two routes for the cars were arranged, both running
between Temple Block and the race-track. The entire system
was controlled by the Main Street & Agricultural Park Railroad
Company, with which W. J. Brodrick was associated as its first
President, continuing in that office until his death in 1898. In
1877, Colonel John O. Wheeler, the quondam journalist, was
Manager. Later, E. M. Loricke was Superintendent — the same
Loricke who built the line between Oakland and Berkeley, and
was finally killed by one of his own cars. James Gallagher,
who went to work for the Main Street & Agricultural Park
Railroad Company in October, 1888, and who had charge also
of one of the first electric cars run here, is still a street-car
conductor pleasantly known, with the longest record for service
of any conductor in the city. As I have said, travel in winter
was anything but expeditious and agreeable; and it was not
uncommon for passengers, when a car left the track, to get out
and assist in the operation of putting it back. Notwith-
standing these drawbacks, however, the mule-car novelty
became popular with some ; and one Spanish girl in particular,
whose father amply supplied her with pocket-money, was a fre-
i874] The End of Vasquez 463
quent passenger, riding back and forth, from hour to hour, for
months. As late as 1887, there were no cars before six o'clock
in the morning or after ten o'clock at night ; and in that same
year, serious complaint was made that, despite a city ordinance
forbidding any street railway company to carry more than forty
persons in a car drawn by a single horse, the ordinance was
shamefully disregarded. Another regulation then frequently
disobeyed was supposed to limit smoking to the rear end of
street cars.
The same year, D. V. Waldron bought about thirty-five
acres on the southwest corner of Main and Washington streets,
soon known as the Washington Gardens, later Chute's Park.
These Gardens, among the most popular pleasure resorts here,
were served by the Main Street cars which ran direct to the
gate. In addition to a Sunday afternoon variety show that
held forth in a small pavilion and secured most of its talent
from Wood's Opera House, there was also dancing for those
who wished to indulge. I may add that this so-called opera
house was nothing more than a typical Western song and dance
resort, the gallery being cut up into boxes where the actresses,
between the acts, mingled with the crowd. Patrons indulged
in drinking and smoking; and the bar in front did a thriving
business. An insignificant collection of animals — one of which,
an escaping monkey, once badly bit Waldron — attracted not
only the children, but their elders as well; and charmingly-
arranged walks, amid trees and bowers, afforded innocent
and healthful means of recreation. Waldron later went to
Alaska, where a tragic death closed his career: alone and in
want, he was found, in May, 191 1, dead in his hut.
Waldron and Eberle's prosperity may have influenced
George Lehman's fortunes; but however that was, he always
maintained his popularity. Many a joke was cracked at his
expense; yet everybody had a good word for him. Here is a
newspaper note of '74 :
Round House George is making great improvements in his
property at Fort and Sixth streets. He has already, at great
expense, set out a post and whitewashed a cactus plant !
464 Sixty Years in Southern California [1874
The popularity of the 38 's Fire Company soon inspired a
second group of the good men of Los Angeles; and in 1874 o^"
1875, George Furman, George E. Gard, Joe Manning, John R.
Brierly, Bryce McClellan and others started Confidence Engine
Company No. 2, obtaining a steamer known as an Amoskeag,
which they installed in a building on Main Street near First,
on what was later the site of Childs' Opera House. It soon
developed, as in the days of the San Pedro stages when the most
important feature of the trip was the race to town, that a
conflagration was a matter of secondary importance, the mad
dash, in rivalry, by the two companies being the paramount
object. This was carried to such an extent that the day
following a fire was largely given to discussing the race, and
the first thing that everybody wished to know was, who got
there first ? Indeed, I believe that many an alarm was sounded
to afford the boys around town a good chance to stake
their bets! All this made the fire-laddies the most popular
groups in the pueblo ; and in every public parade for years the
volunteer fire companies were the chief attraction. In 1876,
Walter S. Moore, an arrival of 1875, became the Confidence
Engine Company's Secretary, that being the commencement
of his career as a builder of the department. In 1877, Moore
was elected President, occupying that office till 1883 when he
was made Chief Engineer of the Los Angeles Fire Department.
On May 13th, 1874, the Los Angeles Daily Star contained
the following reference to Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Newmark
and an event of particular interest to me and my family :
Mr. Newmark, pere and wife, were among the passengers
for San Francisco by the Senator yesterday. This well-known
and highly-esteemed couple go to attend the marriage of their
son. Judge M. J. Newmark, which event occurs on the seventti
proximo, as announced in the Star some time ago.
Eugene Meyer and myself attended the wedding, leaving
Los Angeles by stage and completely surprising the merry com-
pany a few moments before the groom's father performed the
Benjamin S. Eaton
Henry T. Hazard
Fort Street Home, Harris Newmark, Site of Blanchard Hall; Joseph Newmark
at the Door
Calle de los Negros (Nigger Alley), about 1870
Second Street, Looking East from Hill Street, Early Seventies
i874l The End of Vasquez 465
ceremony. The fair bride was Miss Sophie Cahen, and the
occasion proved one of the very agreeable milestones in an
interesting and successful career.. The first-born of this union,
Henry M. Newmark, now of Morgan & Newmark, has attained
civic distinction, being President of the Library Board.
The reason we journeyed north by stage was to escape
observation, for since the steamer-service had been so con-
siderably improved, most of our friends were accustomed to
travel by water. The Pacific Mail Steamship Company at that
time was running the Senator, the Pacific, the Orizaba and the
Moliongo, the latter being the gunboat sold by the Government
at the end of the War and which remained on the route until
1877; while the line controlled by Goodall, Nelson & Perkins
or Goodall, Nelson & Company had on their list the Con-
stantine, the Kalorama, the Monterey and the San Luis, some-
times also running the California, which made a specialty of
carrying combustibles. A year later, the Ancon commenced
to run between San Francisco and San Diego, and excepting
half a year when she plied between the Golden Gate and Port-
land, was a familiar object until 1884.
The Farmers & Merchants Bank, on June 15th, 1874, moved
to their new building on the west side of Main Street, opposite
the Bella Union.
On July 25th, 1874, Conrad Jacoby commenced in the old
Lanfranco Building the weekly Sued-Calijornische Post; and for
fifteen years or more it remained the only German paper
issued in Southern California. Jacoby's brother, Philo, was
the well-known sharpshooter.
Henry T. Payne, the early photographer, was probably
the first to go out of town to take views in suburbs then just
beginning to attract attention. Santa Monica was his favorite
field, and a newspaper clipping or two preserve the announce-
ments by which the wet-plate artist stimulated interest in his
venture. One of these reads :
Mr. Payne will be at Santa Monica next Sunday, and take
photographic views of the camp, the ocean, the surrounding
30
466 Sixty Years in Southern California [1874
scenery, and such groups of campers and visitors as may see fit to
arrange themselves for that purpose ;
while another and rather contradictory notice is as follows :
To make photographs of moving life, such as Mr. Payne's
bathing scenes at Santa Monica next Sunday, it is absolutely
necessary that everybody should keep perfectly still during the
few seconds the plate is being exposed, for the least move might
completely spoil an otherwise beautiful effect. Santa Monica,
with its bathers in nice costume, sporting in the surf, with here
and there an artistically-posed group basking in the sunshine,
ought to make a beautiful picture.
As late as 1874, Fort Street — not yet called Broadway — was
almost a plain, except for the presence of a few one-story adobe
houses. J. M. Griffith, the lumberman, put up the first two-
story frame dwelling-house between Second and Third streets,
and Judge H. K. S. O'Melveny the second; shortly after which
Eugene Meyer and myself built our homes in the same block.
These were put upon the lots formerly owned by Burns &
Buffum. Within the next two or three years, the west side of
Fort Street between Second and Third was the choicest residence
neighborhood in the growing city, and there was certainly not the
remotest idea at that time that this street would ever be used for
business purposes. Sometime later however, as I was going
home one day, I met Griffith and we walked together from
Spring Street down First, talking about the new County Bank
and its Cashier, J. M. Elliott — whom Griffith had induced four
years previously to come to Los Angeles and take charge of
Griffith, Lynch & Company's lumber yard at Compton. We
then spoke of the city's growth, and in the course of the
conversation he said: "Newmark, Fort Street is destined to
be the most important business thoroughfare in Los Angeles."
I laughed at him, but Time has shown the wisdom of Griffith's
prophecy.
The construction of this Fort Street home I commenced
in the spring, contracting with E. F. Keysor as the architect,
i874l The End of Vasquez 4^7
and with Skinner & Small as the builders. In September, we
moved in ; and I shall never forget a happy compliment paid
us the first evening. We had already retired when the
sound of music and merriment made it unmistakable that we
were being serenaded. Upon opening the door, we saw a large
group of friends; and having invited them into the house,
the merrymakers remained with us until the early morning
hours.
In July, 1874, the Los Angeles County Bank was started
with a capital of three hundred thousand dollars, its first
directors being R. S. Baker, Jotham Bixb}^ George S. Dodge,
J. M. Griffith, Vincent A. Hoover, Jonathan S. Slauson and H.
B. Tichenor, with J. M. Elliott as Cashier. Its first location
was the room just rented by the Farmers & Merchants Bank
adjoining the Bella Union, the County Bank's step in that
direction being due, no doubt, to a benevolent desire to obtain
some of its predecessor's business; and in July, 1878, it moved
into the Temple & Workman banking-room, after the latter's
failure. For a while the County Bank did both a commercial
and a savings business ; but later it forfeited the savings clause
of its charter, and its capital was reduced to one hundred
thousand dollars. In time, John E. Plater, a well-known An-
geleno, became a controlling factor.
About the end of 1874, Edward F. Spence, who had come
to CaHfornia by way of the Nicaragua route a year earlier
than myself, reached Los Angeles. In 1884, Spence was
elected Mayor on the Republican ticket. In the course of
time, he withdrew somewhat from activity in Los Angeles
and became a heavy investor in property at Monrovia.
In 1874 or 1875, there appeared on the local scene a man
who, like his second cousin. United States Senator Mallory of
Florida, was destined to become a character of national re-
nown ; a man who as such could and, as a matter of fact , did serve
his constituents faithfully and well. That man was Stephen M.
White. He was born in San Francisco a few weeks before I
saw that harbor city, and was, therefore, a Native Son, his
parents having come to the Coast in 1849. While a youth,
468 Sixty Years in Southern California [1874
he was sent to Santa Clara where, in June, 1871, he graduated
from the well-known college ; he read law at Watsonville and
later at Santa Cruz; and having been admitted to the Bar in
1874, he shortly afterward came to the Southland.
Arriving in Los Angeles, White studied law with John D.
Bicknell, who afterward took him into partnership; and he
soon proved to be a brilliant lawyer. He was also an orator
of the first magnitude; and this combination of talent made
him not only prominent here, but attracted great attention to
him from beyond the confines of city and county. Standing
as a Democrat in 1882, he was elected District Attorney by a
large majority and in that capacity served with distinction,
in the end declining renomination. In 1886 he was elected
State Senator and soon became President of the Senate, and
then acting Lieutenant Governor. After a phenomenal career
both in his profession and in the public service — during
which he was one of three counsel elected by the California
Legislature to maintain the Scott Exclusion Act before the
United States Supreme Court and thus conclude the contro-
versy in the Chae Chan Ping case — he was elected to the
United States Senate, and there, too, his integrity and ability
shone resplendent.
The zeal with which White so successfully entered the
conflict against C. P. Huntington in the selection of a harbor
for Los Angeles was indefatigable ; and the tremendous expendi-
tures of the Southern Pacific in that competition, commanding
the best of legal and scientific service and the most powerful
influence, are all well known. Huntington built a wharf — four
thousand six hundred feet long — at Port Los Angeles, north-
west of Santa Monica, after having obtained control of the en-
tire frontage; and it was to prevent a monopoly that ¥7hite
made so hard a flght in Congress in behalf of San Pedro. The
virility of his repeated attacks, his freedom from all contami-
nating influence and his honesty of purpose — these are some of
the elements that contributed so efiiectively to the final selection
of San Pedro Harbor. On February 21st, 1901, Senator White
died. While at his funeral, I remarked to General H. G. Otis,
i874l The End of Vasquez 469
his friend and admirer, that a suitable monument to White's
memory ought to be erected; and on December nth, 1908, the
statue in front of the County Courthouse was unveiled. '
Hotel competition was lively in 1874. Charles Knowlton
concluded his advertisement of the Pico House with a large
index-finger and the following assurance :
The unpleasant odor of gas has entirely disappeared since
the building of the new sewer !
Hammel & Denker announced for the United States (com-
monly known as the U. S.) :
We have all Spring Beds at this Hotel!
Fluhr & Gerson — the latter long a popular chap about
town — claimed for the Lafayette :
The Eating Department will be conducted with especial care ;
and this was some of the bait displayed by the Clarendon,
formerly the Bella Union :
Carriages are kept standing at the door for the use of the
guests, and every effort is being made by CoL. B. L. Beal,
the Present Manager, to render the guests comfortable and
happy.
A couple of years later, the name of the Clarendon was
changed to the St. Charles; next to which, during the Centen-
nial year, the Grand Central, pretentious of name though small
of dimension, opened with a splurge. Hammel & Denker
continued to manage the United States Hotel. The Lafa-
yette in time became, first the Cosmopohtan and then the
St. Elmo.
Octavius Morgan, a native of the old cathedral town of
Canterbury, England, came to Los Angeles in 1874 and
•Executive Committee of the Memorial Fund: M. P. Snyder, Chainnan;
Joseph Scott, Secretary; James C. Kays, Treasurer; F. W. Braun, A. B. Cass, R.
F. Del Valle, I. B. Dockweiler, W. J. Huusaker, M. H. Newmark and H. G. Otis.
470 Sixty Years in Southern California [1874
associated himself with the architect, E. F. Keysor, the two
forming the firm of Keysor & Morgan. They were charter
members of the Southern California Architects Association,
and for many years Morgan and his associates have largely
influenced the architectural styles of Los Angeles.
A really picturesque old-timer even now at the age of nearly
seventy, and one who, having withstood the lure of the modern
automobile, is still daily driving a "one-hoss" buggy to the
office of the Los Angeles Soap Company, is J. A. Forthman. In
1874, he brought a small stock of groceries from San Francisco
and started a store at what is now Sixth and Olive streets ; but
at the end of three months, having sold out at a loss, he bought
a quarter interest in a little soap plant conducted by C. W.
Gibson. Soon thereafter, vats and fat were moved to their
present site on First Street. In 1875, W. B. Bergin and in 1879,
Gideon Le Sage joined Forthman and Gibson; and in 1887,
the latter sold out to his associates. J. J., a brother of W. B.
Bergin, was added to the force in 1895. For many years the
concern dealt in hides, and this brought us into close business
relations. I have referred to the death of four children.
Edith, a child of six, was taken from us on October 15th, 1874.
While William F. Turner, son of the miller, was busy in his
little store near the Puente Mills about three miles from El
Monte, on the third of June, 1874, a Californian named Romo,
who lived at Pio Pico's Ranchito, entered and bought some goods,
also asking to be shown a pair of boots. Turner stooped to
reach the articles, when the stranger drew a pruning-knife
across his throat. In defense, the storekeeper caught hold of
the sharp blade with both hands and thereby crippled himself
for the rest of his days.
Turner had been in the habit of closing before dark on ac-
count of the rough element near by ; and when he did not return
home at the accustomed hour, Mrs. Turner, taking with her a
little five-shooter, set out to find him and arrived in the
midst of the murderous assault. Her pistol missed fire, but
she succeeded in seizing the assassin and dragging him
away from her husband; after which, the Mexican shot her
i874l The End of Vasquez 471
just as Turner, bleeding, fell in the road. The explosion aroused
a neighbor who reached the scene after Romo had fled with
some boots — mostly for one foot ! — and seventy dollars in cash.
When the news passed from mouth to mouth in El Monte,
a posse started out to hunt for the Mexican ; but after two
days' unsuccessful search, they gave up the job. Then Fred
Lambourn, who had a share in Turner's business, rushed in on
Jake Schlesinger, shouting excitedly, "By God, Jake, I know
where the fellow is ! " and Jake and others responded by saddling
their horses and hurrying to a rendezvous at Durfee's farm.
The party of nineteen, including John Broaded and Bill Cooper,
broke up into divisions of one or two and in time found them-
selves wading in and out of the San Gabriel River and the
Puente Creek. Soon old Dodson spied their quarry floundering
across stream; and when Schlesinger took a pop at him, the
culprit cried out, "Don't shoot!" and agreed to come ashore.
Of the money stolen, all but a few dollars was found on the
prisoner; nevertheless, the captors told him that, as soon as
Turner should identify him, he would be hung and that there
was not much time for foolishness. Romo said that he had
assaulted the storekeeper in order to get money with which, on
the following Sunday, to marry ; that his immediate need was a
cigar ; and that, if he must die, he would like to have his friends
notified, that they might bury him. Jake handed the doomed
man his only weed ; and soon after, five or six masked men rode
up and announced . that they would care for the criminal.
Then they drove under a tree on the bank of the river and
there, in short order, the cutthroat was hanged.
Pio Pico soon heard of the lynching and sent Jake and the
El Monte boys word that he would come over and "kill the
whole damned lot" of them; in reply to which, El Monte for-
warded to the last of the Mexican governors a cordial invita-
tion to come, at the same time pledging to receive him in true
California style— with due hospitality and warmth. This was
contemporaneous with the Vasquez excitement, and Romo was
probably bent on imitating the outlaw.
CHAPTER XXXII
THE SANTA ANITA RANCHO
1875
UNTIL near the end of the seventies, there was very Uttle
done toward the laying of sewers, although the reader
will remember that a private conveyor connected the
Bella Union with the zanja running through Mellus's Row. Los
Angeles Street from First to Second, in 1873, had one of brick
and wood; and in 1875, a brick sewer was built from the corner
of Main and Arcadia streets down to Winston and thence to
Los Angeles Street. It must have been in the early seventies
that a wooden sewer was constructed on Commercial Street
from Los Angeles to Alameda, and another on New High
Street for about one block. In 1879, one of brick was laid
from Los Angeles and Commercial as far north as Arcadia,
and connecting with the Main Street sewer. At about the
same time, vitrified clay was used on a portion of Temple
Street. My impression is that there was no cloaca laid on
Spring Street until after 1880, while it was still later that Fort,
Hill and Olive streets were served. As late as 1887, Hope
Street had no sewer and very little conduit-building, if any,
had been undertaken south of Seventh or west of Flower.
In January, 1875, the Commercial Bank, that was to
change five years later into the First National, began business.
Most of the incorporators were San Diego men — among them
being Captain Henry Wilcox — although four — L. J. Rose, S.
H. Mott, R. M. Town and Edward Bouton — were from Los
Angeles. M. S. Patrick, of Chicago, was President; and
472
[i87s] The Santa Anita Rancho 473
Edward F. Spence was Cashier. Their room was on Main
Street between Commercial and Requena. J. E. Hollenbeck,
who was succeeded by Spence, was the first President of the
National Bank. J. M. Elliott, made Cashier in 1885, has for
years well filled the office of President. A pillar of strength
in this institution is Vice-president Stoddard Jess.
Captain Wilcox, owner of the Colorado Steam Navigation
Company, who finally sold out to the Pacific Mail Steamship
Company, brought to California, on his own vessel in 1848,
the first light-houses. He married Senorita Maria Antonia
Arguello, the granddaughter of an early Governor of Califor-
nia. One of his daughters became the wife of Lieutenant
Randolph Huntington Miner, and another married Lieutenant
J. C. Drake. Captain Wilcox had induced E. F. Spence to
come from San Diego to Los Angeles, and thereby gave a
decided impetus to the starting of the Commercial Bank.
Milton Lindley, formerly an Indiana saddle-maker and
Treasurer of Los Angeles County in 1879, arrived here in 1875,
accompanied by Walter, the physician; Henry, the banker,
who settled at Whittier; Albert, an attorney; and Miss Ida B.,
a teacher. In the eighties, he was twice Supervisor. Dr.
Walter Lindley, once a Minnesota schoolmaster, so soon estab-
lished himself that in 1878 he was elected health officer and,
in 1880, a member of the Board of Education. The following
year, he was President of the County Medical Society. With
Dr. Widney, he contributed to the literature setting forth
California's natural attractions; and with his brother-in-law,
Dr. John R. Haynes, he took a leading part in organizing the
California Hospital. Both Lindley and Haynes have identified
themselves with many other important local institutions and
movements.
Madame Caroline. Severance, already distinguished as
the founder, in 1868, of the first woman's club in America—
the New England, of Boston — took up her residence in Los
Angeles in 1875 and soon made her home, El Nido, the
center of many notable sociological and philanthropic activities.
Especially active was she in promoting the free kindergarten,
474 Sixty Years in Southern California [187s
working in cooperation with Mrs. Grover Cleveland and Kate
Douglas Wiggin, the California author who was her protegee
and resided for some time at El Nido when she was first becom-
ing famous as a story-writer.
On March 27th, the Weekly Aiirror was again enlarged and
a subscription rate of one dollar a year was charged. By the
beginning of 1876, a bindery was established in connection with
the printery; and a Potter cylinder press — one of the first
operated west of the Rockies — was installed.
E. J. Baldwin bought the Santa Anita rancho, in April,
from H. Newmark & Company — a transaction recalled thirty-
eight years later when, in 1913, the box which had been sealed
and placed in the corner-stone of the Trinity Methodist
Episcopal Church, at about the time of the sale, was brought
forth from its long burial. Baldwin had just sold his control-
ling interest in the Ophir mine of the Comstock district for
five million, five hundred thousand dollars. In the same year,
we purchased of the Vejar estate the splendid vineyard of
fifty acres commencing at Washington Street, on the south
and a little east of Main Street, and taking in many important
sections of to-day; selling it, in the early eighties, to Kaspare
Cohn who, in turn, disposed of it during the boom of that
decade. George Compere, somewhat noted as a local ento-
mologist, cared for this vineyard while we owned it. Baldwin
died on March ist, 1909.
The sale of the Santa Anita is not without an incident or
two, perhaps, of exceptional interest. On "Lucky" B.aldwin's
first visit, he offered us one hundred and fifty thousand dollars
for the property; but learning that we wanted two hundred
thousand dollars, he started off in a huff. Then Reuben Lloyd,
the famous San Francisco attorney who accompanied him,
said on reaching the sidewalk, ' ' Lucky, go back and buy that
ranch, or they'll raise the price on you!" and Baldwin re-
turned, carrying under his arm a tin-box (containing several
million dollars) from which he drew forth twelve thousand,
five hundred, tendering the same as a first payment.
One can hardly refer to Baldwin without recalling H. A.
i875l The Santa Anita Rancho 475
Unruh, in the late sixties in the employ of the Central Pacific.
It is my impression that I first met him at the Baldwin Hotel
in San Francisco. This meeting may have occurred nearly
thirty-five years ago; and after his removal to the Santa Anita
Ranch, where he took charge of Baldwin's interests in the
Southland, he transacted a large amount of business with H.
Newmark & Co. In 1887, Unruh was also in partnership at
La Puente with a man named Carroll, the firm advertising as
"Agents for Baldwin's Grain Warehouse, Wells Fargo & Co.'s
Express and Postmaster." When Baldwin died, his will named
Unruh executor ; Bradner W. Lee being the attorney.
Ravenna, on the Southern Pacific, was a town of the
middle seventies, at whose start James O'Reilly, an Irishman
of medium build, with reddish hair and a pug nose decidedly
indented at the bridge, turned up with a happy-go-lucky air.
Always slovenly, he wore a big, black slouch hat on the back
of his head, as well as a good-natured expression, in days of
prosperity, on his comical face. He had a grocery, famed for a
conglomeration of merchandise not at all improved by age and
hard usage ; and this he sold to a none too fastidious clientele.
He also cooked for himself, bragging that he was sufficiently
adroit to throw a slapjack up the chimney and catch it in
the pan, outside the shanty on its flop or turn! When Jim
took to working a couple of claims known as the New York
and Parnell Mines, his tribulations began: he spent more in
the development of his property than he ever recovered, and
claim-jumpers bothered him to death. In truth, once ascrib-
ing debatable motives to a man prowling there, he took aim
at the intruder and — shot off an ear! Later, he married; but
his wife soon divorced him. In time, his troubles affected his
mind; and having lost everything and come to fancy himself
an alchemist, he would sit for hours in the burning sun (his
temples plastered with EngHsh mustard) industriously stirring
a pestle and convinced that he could bring about a transmuta-
tion of the mortarful of mud. In the end, this good-natured
Son of Erin was one day found dead in his little shanty.
J. A. Graves arrived in Los Angeles on June 5th and soon
476 Sixty Years in Southern California [187s
entered the office of Brunson & Eastman, lawyers. The
following January he was admitted to practice before the Su-
preme Court and then became a member of the firm of Brun-
son, Eastman & Graves, dissolved in 1878. Practicing alone
for a couple of years. Graves, in 1880, formed a partnership
with J. S. Chapman. On the dissolution of this firm, in
1885, Graves joined, first H. W. O'Melveny and then J. H.
Shankland; Graves, O'Melveny & Shankland continuing until
January, 1904. On June ist, 1903, Graves became Vice-presi-
dent of the Farmers & Merchants National Bank. In the
fall of 1879, the young attorney married Miss Alice H., daughter
of J. M. Griffith, and for nine years they lived at the corner of
Fort and Third streets. In 1888 they removed to Alhambra,
where they still live. In 19 12, Graves published some en-
tertaining reminiscences entitled. Out of Doors California and
Oregon.
Colonel W. E. Morford, a native of New Jersey and, late
in the eighties. Superintendent of Streets, returned to Los
Angeles in 1875, having previously been here. Morford had
been assistant to Captain Sutter ; and when he left San Fran-
cisco on March 14th, 1849, to return East, he carried the first
gold taken from the diggings in the exciting era of 1848. This
gold was sent by Frank Lemon, a member of Stevenson's
Regiment, to his brother William, a partner of John Anderson,
the New York tobacco merchant; and Morford liked to tell
how, when the strange find was displayed on August 226., in a
little window of the well-known jewelry store of Benedict at 7
Wall Street near a high-hatted guard, the narrow thoroughfare
was soon beyond hope of police control, thousands of curious,
excited people struggling to get a glimpse of the California
treasure.
Moses Langley Wicks was a Mississippian who for some
years had a law office at Anaheim until, in 1877 or 1878, he
removed to Los Angeles and soon became an active operator
in real estate. He secured from Jonathan S. Slauson — who or-
ganized the Azusa Land and Water Company and helped lay
out the town — the Dalton section of the San Jose Ranch.
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i87s] The Santa Anita Rancho 477
Wicks was also active in locating the depot of the Santa Fe
Railroad, carrying through at private expense the opening of
Second Street from Main almost to the river. A brother,
Moye "Wicks, long an attorney here, later removed to the State
of Washington.
Southern California was now prospering ; in fact, the whole
State was enjoying wonderful advantages. The great Corn-
stock mines were at the height of their prosperity ; the natural
resources of this part of the country were being developed;
land once hard to sell, at even five dollars an acre, was being
cut up into small tracts ; new hamlets and towns were starting
up ; money was plentiful and everybody was happy.
About this time my brother, J. P. Newmark, and I made a
little tour, visiting Lake Tahoe — an unusual trip in that day —
as well as the mines of Nevada. Virginia City, Gold Hill and
other mining-camps were the liveliest that I had ever seen.
My friend. General Charles Forman, was then Superintendent
of the Overman and Caledonia Mines, and was engaged in
constructing a beautiful home in Virginia City. After the
collapse of the Nevada boom in the early eighties, he trans-
ported this house to Los Angeles, at a freight expense of
eleven hundred and thirty-five dollars and a total cost of
over six thousand, and located it on ten acres of land near
the present site of Pico and Figueroa streets, where Mr. and
Mrs. Forman, still residents of Los Angeles, for years have
enjoyed their home.
Miners were getting high wages and spending their money
lavishly, owners of buildings in Virginia City receiving from four
to eight per cent, a month on their investments. W. C. Ralston,
President of the Bank of California at San Francisco, was largely
responsible for this remarkable excitement, for he not only lent
money freely but he lent it regardless of conservative banking
principles. He engaged in indiscriminate speculation, for a
time legitimatizing illegitimacy, and people were so incited by
his example that they plunged without heed. All of Nevada's
treasure was shipped to San Francisco, whose prosperity
was phenomenal. From San Francisco the excitement spread
478 Sixty Years in Southern California [187s
throughout the State; but these conditions, from the nature of
things, could not endure. From Bull to Bear is but a short
step when the public is concerned, and it happened accordingly,
as it so frequently does, that the cry of ' ' Save yourself, if you
can ! ' ' involved California in a general demoralization. One day
in October, 1875, when Ralston's speculation had indeed proven
disastrous, the Bank of California closed its doors; and a few
days after this, Ralston, going a-swimming in the neighborhood
of the North Beach at San Francisco, was drowned — whether a
suicide or not, no one knows. In the meantime, the recessional
frenzy extended all over the State, and every bank was obliged
to close its doors. Those of Los Angeles were no exception to
the rule ; and it was then that Temple & Workman suspended.
I. W. Hellman, who was on a European trip at the time, forth-
with returned to Los Angeles, re-opened the doors of the
Farmers & Merchants Bank and resumed business just as if
nothing had happened. Following this panic, times became
dreadfully bad; from greatest prosperity, we dropped to the
depths of despair. Specie disappeared from circulation ; values
suffered, and this was especially true of real estate in California.
Temple & Workman's Bank, for reasons I have already
specified, could not recover. Personally, these gentlemen
stood well and had ample resources; but to realize on these
was impossible under conditions then existing. They applied
to E. J. Baldwin, a Monte Cristo of that period, for a loan.
He was willing to advance them two hundred and ten thou-
sand dollars, but upon two conditions: first, that they would
give him a blanket-mortgage on their combined real estate;
secondly, that their intimate friend, Juan Matias Sanchez,
would include in the mortgage his splendid tract consisting
of twenty-two hundred acres of the finest land around the Old
Mission. Sanchez, who transacted a good deal of business
with H. Newmark & Company, came to me for advice. I felt
convinced that Temple & Workman's relief could be at best
but temporary'-, although I am sure that they themselves be-
lieved it would be permanent, and so I strenuously urged
Sanchez to refuse; which he finally promised me to do. So
i87s] The Santa Anita Rancho 479
impressive was our interview that I still vividly recall the scene
when he dramatically said: "/iVo qidero morir de hambre!" —
" I do not wish to die of hunger ! " A few days later I learned,
to my deep disappointment, that Sanchez had agreed, after all,
to include his lands. In the course of time, Baldwin fore-
closed and Sanchez died very poor. Temple also, his pride
shattered — notwithstanding his election in 1875 to the County
Treasurership — died a ruined man; and Workman soon com-
mitted suicide. Thus ended in sorrow and despair the hves of
three men who, in their day, had prospered to a degree not
given to every man, and who had also been more or less
distinguished. Baldwin bought in most of the land at Sher-
iff's sale; and when he died, in 1909, after an adventurous
career in which he consummated many transactions, he left an
estate of about twenty millions. A pathetic reminder of San-
chez and his one-time prosperity is an azador or meat toaster,
from the old Sanchez homestead, now exhibited at the County
Museum.
In 1874, Senator John P. Jones came south and engaged
with William M. Stewart, his senatorial colleague (once an
obscure lawyer in Downieville, and later a Nevada Croesus),
in mining at Panamint, purchasing all their supplies in Los
Angeles. About the same time, Colonel R. S. Baker, who had
shortly before bought the San Vicente rancho, sold a two-
thirds interest in the property to Jones; and one of their first
operations was the laying out of the town of Santa Monica.
After the hotel and bath-houses had been built, an auction sale
of lots took place on July i6th, 1875, and was attended by a
large number of people, including myself; prospective buyers
coming from as far as San Francisco to compete with bidders
from the Southland. Tom Fitch, already known as the
"Silver-tongued Orator," was the auctioneer and started the
ball rolling with one of his most pyrotechnical efforts. He
described the place about to be founded as "The Zenith City
by the Sunset Sea," and painted a gorgeous vista of the day
when the white sails of commerce would dot the placid waters
of the harbor, and the products of the Orient would crowd
480 Sixty Years in Southern California [187s
those of the Occident at the great wharves that were to stretch
far out into the Pacific !
Then Tom turned his attention and eloquence to the sale
of the lots, which lay along Ocean Avenue, each sixty by one
hundred and fifty feet in size. Calling for a bid, he announced
the minimum price of three hundred dollars for sites along the
ocean front. Several friends — I. M. Hellman, I. W. Hellman,
Kaspare Cohn, Eugene Meyer and M. J. Newmark — had
authorized me to act for them; and I put in the first bid
of three hundred dollars. Fitch accepted, and stated that
as many more of these lots as I wanted could be had at the
same price; whereupon I took five, located between Utah and
Oregon avenues. These we divided among us, each taking
fifty feet front, with the expectation of building summer homes ;
but strange to say, none of us did so, and in the end we sold
our unimproved ground. Some years later, I bought a site in
the next block and built a house which I still occupy each
year in the summer season.
Three early characters of Santa Monica had much to do
with the actual starting of the place. The one, L. G. Giroux,
a Canadian, walked out to Santa Monica one day in 1875, to
get a glimpse of the surf, and came back to town the owner of a
lot on which he soon built the second permanent house there
— a small grocery and liquor shop. In the eighties, Giroux did
good public service as a Supervisor. The second, Billy Rapp,
also came in 1875 and built a small brick house on the west side
of Second Street somewhere between Utah and Arizona avenues.
There, after marrying a German Frau, he opened a saloon;
and pleasure-seekers visiting Santa Monica on Sundays long
remembered Billy's welcome and how, on the arrival of the
morning train from Los Angeles, he always tapped a fresh keg
of lager. After a while, he closed his saloon and sold the little
building for a town hall. Hard times in later years rapped
at Billy's door, forcing him to work on the public streets until
1899, when he died. The third settler was George Boehme,
who landed with the first steamer and, within an hour or two,
invested in lots. His family is there to-day.
i87s] The Santa Anita Rancho 481
Another pioneer Santa Monica family was that of William
D. Vawter who, with his sons, W. S. and E. J., originally
members of the Indiana Colony at Pasadena, removed to the
beach in 1875. My relations with these gentlemen were quite
intimate when they conducted a general merchandise business,
that being but one of their numerous enterprises. Of late years,
W. S. Vawter has twice been Postmaster at Santa Monica.
In 1875, Paul Kern, who had come to Los Angeles in 1854
and was for years a baker, set to work to improve a piece of
property he owned at the junction of South Main and Spring
streets, between Eighth and Ninth. At the end of this property
he erected a two-story brick building — still to be seen — in the
lower part of which he had a grocery and a saloon, and in the
upper part of which he lived.
Toward the middle of the seventies, A. Ulyard, the baker,
embarked in the carrying of passengers and freight between
Los Angeles and Santa Monica, sending a four-horse stage
from here at half-past seven every morning, and from Santa
Monica at half -past three in the afternoon, and calling at all
four Los Angeles hotels as well as at the private residences
of prospective patrons. One dollar was the fare charged.
Ralph Leon had the only regular cigar store here in the
late sixties, occupying a part of the United States Hotel; and
he was very prosperous until, unable to tolerate a nearby
competitor — George, a brother of William Pridham — he took up
a new stand and lost much of his patronage. Pridham opened
the second cigar store, about 1872 or 1873, next to the hotel; and
Leon moved to a shop near the Farmers & Merchants Bank.
The names of these early dealers remind me of an interest-
ing custom especially popular with Captain Thorn, Billy Work-
man and other lovers of the aromatic weed. Instead of buying
cigars by the piece, each of these inveterate smokers purchased
a box at a time, wrote his name on the lid and left it on a shelf
of the dealer; and from time to time they would slip in by a
rear door and help themselves — generally from their own or,
occasionally, from their neighbor's supply. When Leon discov-
ered that the patron's box was empty, he would have it refilled.
482 Sixty Years in Southern California [187s
In the autumn, Temple & Workman were obliged to sus-
pend. After closing temporarily, they made an effort to
resume, but a run on the Bank deprived them of all reserves
and they finally had to close their doors. It was the worst
of all bank failures here, the creditors losing everything. Some
idea of the disaster may be gathered from the fact that the
Receiver finally sold worthless securities to the extent of about
three hundred thousand dollars for the paltry sum of thirty
dollars.
On the sixth of November, 1875, Mrs. Joseph Newmark, my
wife's mother, died here surrounded by her nearest of kin.
During the construction of the Southern Pacific Railway,
Sisson, Wallace & Company, who furnished both labor and
supplies, brought M. Dodsworth to Los Angeles and like many
of their employees, he remained here after the railroad was
completed. He engaged in the pork-packing business, for a
long period prospered and built a residence on the southwest
corner of Sixth and Main streets, opening it with a large
reception. He was an honorable man and had a host of
friends; but about 1887, when the Santa Fe had been built
to Los Angeles, the large Eastern packers of hog products sent
agents into Southern California and wiped Dodsworth out of
business.
S. J. Mathes came in 1875, helped enlarge the Mirror
and was identified with the Times; but failing health, forcing
him to abandon office work, led him in the eighties to conduct
Pullman excursions, in which undertaking he became a pio-
neer, bringing thousands of tourists to the Southland. He also
toured the country with a railway car exhibit known as
' ' California on Wheels, ' ' pointing the way of exploitation to
later Chambers of Commerce.
Toward the end of the year, when attention was being
centered on the coming exposition at Philadelphia, I was asked
by the Chamber of Commerce to assist in editing a report on
the resources, conditions, population, climatic advantages
and mercantile interests of the city and county of Los Angeles.
The aim of the Board was to make the report truthful and
i875] The Santa Anita Rancho 483
helpful, and to distribute it gratis, particularly at the Centen-
nial. Ben C. Truman wrote about cities, towns and climate;
Judge R. M. Widney reported on railroads; H. McClellan, the
steamship agent (who preceded Willis Parris, the present rep-
resentative and once a competent bill-clerk in the employ of
H. Newmark & Company) and brother of Bryce and George F.
McCleUan, told of ocean navigation; Dr. J. E. Fulton, of Ful-
ton Wells, discussed farming; Dr. J. P. Widney described our
harbor; D. M. Berry argued for real estate; Governor Downey
presented banks and banking; M. Keller and L. J. Rose treated
of vine culture; J. de B. Shorb looked after semi-tropical fruits
and nuts, and T. A. Garey— himself the owner of a charming
place on San Pedro Street, where his spiritualistic tendencies
kept him up at night awaiting the arrival of spooks — con-
sidered other fruits and nurseries; W. J. Brodrick stated our
advance in trades, professions, churches and societies; E. C.
French summed up about stock; Captain Gordon recounted
our prospects for beet culture; while H. D. Barrows and I
prepared data as to the commerce of Southern California.
Thus compactly put together, this booklet certainly led many
Easterners to migrate West and to settle in Los Angeles and
vicinity.
In the early seventies. Grange Stores, brought into exist-
ence b}^ a craze for cooperation, were scattered throughout
the State, and Milton H. La Fetra in February, 1875 helped
to organize one here. In time, this establishment became
known, first as Seymour & Company and then as Seymour,
Johnson & Company, their location being on Main Street
near First.
W. H. Northcraft's activity as an auctioneer began about
the middle of the seventies. For a while, he had an office in
Temple Block, but about 1880 moved to the east side of Los
Angeles Street near Requena; later to the Signoret Building,
and still later to the Baker Block. In 1879, Thomas B.
Clark, still well known "in the profession," came to Los
Angeles and, marrying Northcraft's daughter, joined his father-
in-law in partnership. C. L. Northcraft, a son, was added
484 Sixty Years in Southern California [1875]
to the firm. Alonzo B. Cass came to Los Angeles in if
accompanied by his brothers, and soon after, as Cass Brothers'
Stove Company, they started a hardware store on Third Street,
purchasing some of Northcraft & Clark's stock of merchan-
dise. A. B. Cass, who served as President of the Chamber of
Commerce in 1901, has freely given of his time to public move-
ments. As President of the Home Telephone & Telegraph
Company, he has had much to do with their local success.
E. W. Noyes was also a popular, old-time auctioneer, remain-
ing in harness until he was seventy-five years old or more.
The mention of these names recalls the atiction of past
decades, such a familiar feature of Los Angeles life. In few
respects were the methods of early days at all like those of our
own : there were no catalogues, no neatly-arranged store-rooms
and but little expert service ; noise and bluff constituted a good,
even important portion of the necessary auctioneering talent;
household effects were usually offered at homes; horses — and
these constituted the objects of most early auctioneering activi-
ties— were trotted up and down Los Angeles Street for display
and sale.
CHAPTER XXXIII
LOS ANGELES & INDEPENDENCE RAILROAD
1876
ONCE Santa Monica's boom had been launched, the
town developed as had few other suburbs of Los
Angeles. Within nine or ten months a thousand
inhabitants pointed with satisfaction to one hundred and sixty
houses and perhaps half as many tents. Senator Jones built a
wharf and pushed to completion the Los Angeles & Independ-
ence Railroad; and the road was opened to the public on
Wednesday, December ist, 1875, with a depot on San Pedro
Street near Wolfskill Lane. Two trains a day were run — one
leaving Los Angeles for Santa Monica at half-past nine in the
morning and another at a quarter after four in the afternoon ;
the trains from Santa Monica for Los Angeles departing at
half-past seven in the morning and half-past two in the after-
noon. On January 5th, 1876, the Railroad Company offered
sixty single commutation tickets for ten dollars ; and a few days
later, the conductor and other train employees appeared in
uniform, each wearing on his cap what was then considered an
innovation, the badge of his office. Captain Joseph U. Craw-
ford was Superintendent and Chief Engineer.
From the start the Road did a thriving freight business,
although passenger traffic was often interfered with. Early
in January, 1876, for instance, the train from Santa Monica
failed to make its appearance, the engineer having spied a
bit of ground suspiciously soft in the cienaga — locally spelled
485
486 Sixty Years in Southern California [1876
cienega — refused, despite the protests of passengers, to
proceed !
There were also inconveniences of travel by steamer such
as arose from the uncertainty whether a vessel running between
San Francisco and San Diego would put in at San Pedro or
Santa Monica. According to conditions, or perhaps through
the desire to throw a little trade one way or the other, the
captain might insist on stopping at one port, while friends had
assembled to greet the traveler at the other. A single car, with
such objects of wonder as air brakes and Miller couplers drew
Sunday crowds; and when, about the middle of January, the
Company carried down ten car-loads of people on a single day
and brought them back safely, substantial progress, it was
generally felt, had been made.
In February, the Santa Monica Land Company was push-
ing its sales of real estate, and one of its announcements began
with the headlines :
SANTA MONICA!
The Wonderful Young City and Seaport of
Southern California!
The Future Terminus of the Union & Texas Pacific Railroad!
the advertisement winding up with the declaration that sev-
eral hundred vessels, including the largest boats of the Pacific
Mail Steamship Company, had already loaded and discharged
at the wharf in all weathers !
My memory is obscure as to just when Senator Jones built
his splendid mansion at the corner of Ocean and Nevada ave-
nues, but I think it was about 1890. I certainly recollect that
it was then considered the most extensive and elaborate home
in the vicinity of Los Angeles.
Rather late in January, H. Newmark & Company had their
first experience with burglars who scaled the wall behind the
store one Saturday night, cut away enough brick to enable them
to throw back the bolt of the door, then barricaded the front
doors by means of crowbars and proceeded to open the safe,
which was of the old Tilton & McFarland pattern. The face
i876] Los Angeles & Independence Railroad 487
was forced off, but the eight hundred dollars in the safe remained
intact and undisturbed, the burglars making a total haul of only
five dollars. Other merchants also suffered at this time from
the depredations of cracksmen.
Following this futile attack, we sent for a new safe of the
Hall type. Scarcely had a month elapsed, however, when a
second attempt was made in much the same way. Then the
burglars went to work in real earnest and soon effected an en-
trance into the money-drawers. But, alas! the entire contents
secured would not have provided half a dozen tamales ! This
fact, probably, aroused the ire of the rascals, for they muti-
lated the front of the prettily-decorated safe before leaving,
and tried to destroy the combination. The best excuse — and
perhaps not such a bad one — that the police had to offer for
not furnishing Los Angeles Street better protection, was that
the night was dark, the street and sidewalks flooded and
that a policeman, who had tried the beat, had been nearly
drowned !
In February, trains on the Los Angeles & Independence Rail-
road began to leave Los Angeles at ten o'clock in the morning
and five o'clock in the afternoon, and Santa Monica at eight
and four o'clock, the Company deeming it a sufficient induce-
ment to allow excursionists five or six hours to bathe, fish or
picnic. Round-trip tickets, good for the day and date only,
were sold at a dollar each; and the management reserved the
right, on steamer days, to change the schedule to fit the sail-
ings. When a fourth passenger coach was added to the equip-
ment, the Company declared that the accommodations between
this city and Santa Monica were "equal to those on any road
along the entire Coast;" but the high- water mark of effort was
reached when it was announced that the "splendid palace car
dubbed Santa Monica, which had carried Senator Jones to
Washington," was then being sent south from San Francisco
for the convenience of the Company's patrons. In March,
while the San Pedro Street Railway was being built, another
official announcement said that "in the course of a few days the
people of this city will have the honor and delight of seeing a
488 Sixty Years in Southern California [1876
palace car standing on a railroad track near the Pico House;"
and about the end of March printer's ink displayed this appeal
to the expectant public :
Go, by all means, to the grand seaside excursion to Santa
Monica on Friday, for among the objects of interest will be
Senator Jones's magnificent new palace-car now being com-
pleted by the tailors {sic) which will have three salons, sup-
plied with tables and all the usual comforts, and two private
compartments, the whole sumptuously furnished and partly
upholstered with crimson velvet !
On February 14th, General Andres Pico died at his residence,
203 Main Street, and was buried from his home on the following
day.
On March ist, work was commenced on the San Pedro
Street Railway, which in time was extended from the Santa
Monica station to the Plaza, via San Pedro, Los Angeles,
Arcadia and Sanchez streets. The gauge was that of the
Los Angeles & Independence Railway, thus permitting freight
cars to be hauled to the center of the city; on which account
business men looked upon the new road as a boon. Passenger
cars soon ran from the depot to the Pico House; and as the
fare was but five cents, or thirty tickets for a dollar, this line
was rewarded with a fair patronage. At the end of 1876, four
street railways were in operation here.
In March, also, two hundred pleasure-seekers, then con-
sidered a generous outpouring, went down to Santa Monica on a
single Sunday ; and within the first three months of the year, the
Land Company there gathered in about seventy-three thousand
dollars — selling a lot almost every day. South Santa Monica
was then looked upon as the finer part of the growing town, and
many of my friends, including Andrew Glassell, Cameron E.
Thom, General George Stoneman, E. M. Ross, H. M. Mitchell,
J. D. and Dr. Frederick T. Bicknell and Frank Ganahl, bought
sites there for summer villas.
Micajah D. Johnson, twice City Treasurer, was a Quaker
who came here in 1876. He built at Santa Monica a hotel
i876] Los Angeles & Independence Railroad 489
which was soon burned ; and later he became interested in the
colony at Whittier, suggesting the name of that community.
In 1876, the City purchased a village hook-and-ladder
truck in San Francisco which, drawn by hand in the vigorous
old-fashioned way, supplied all our needs until 1881.
In 1876, the Archer Freight and Fare Bill, which sought to
regulate railroad transportation, engrossed the attention of
commercial leaders, and on March 9th, President S. Lazard
called together the Directors of the Chamber of Commerce
at the office of Judge Ygnacio Sepulveda. Besides President
Lazard, there were present R. M. Widney, W. J. Brodrick,
M. J. Newmark, E. E. Hewitt and I. W. Lord. Little time
was lost in the framing of a despatch which indicated to our
representatives how they would be expected to vote on the
matter. Several speeches were made, that of M. J. Newmark
focusing the sentiment of the opposition and contributing
much to defeat the measure. Newmark expressed surprise
that a bill of such interest to the entire State should have
passed the Lower House apparently without discussion, and
declared that Southern Californians could never afford to inter-
fere with the further building of railroads here. Our prosperity
had commenced with their construction, and it would be suicidal
to force them to suspend.
In a previous chapter I have spoken of the rate — ten
dollars per thousand — first charged for gas, and the public
satisfaction at the further reduction to seven dollars and a half.
This price was again reduced to six dollars and seventy-five
cents; but lower rates prevailing elsewhere, Los Angeles
consumers about the middle of March held a pubHc meeting
to combat the gas monopoly. After speeches more lurid, it
is to be feared, than any gas flame of that period, a resolution
was passed binding those who signed to refrain from using
gas for a whole year, if necessary, beginning with the first of
April. Charies H. Simpkins, President of the Los Angeles
Gas Company, retorted by insisting that, at the price of coal,
the Company could not possibly sell gas any cheaper; but
a single week's reflection, together with the specter of an oil-
490 Sixty Years in Southern California [1876
lamp city, led the Gas Company, on March 21st, to grant a
reduction to six dollars a thousand.
Will Tell was a painter in 1 869 and had his shop in Temple
Block, opposite the Court House. Early in 1876 he opened
a lunch and refreshment house at the corner of Fourth Street
and Utah Avenue in Santa Monica, where he catered to
excursionists, selling hunting paraphernaha and fishing tackle,
and providing "everything, including fluids." Down at what
is now Playa del Rey, Tell had conducted, about 1 870, a resort
on a lagoon covered with flocks of ducks; and there he kept
eight or ten boats for the many hunters attracted to the spot,
becoming more and more popular and prosperous. In 1884,
however, raging tides destroyed Tell's happy hunting grounds;
and for fifteen or twenty years, the "King's Beach" was more
desert than resort. Tell continued for a while at Santa Mon-
ica and was an authority on much that had to do with local
sport.
On Sunday, April 9th, the Cathedral of Sancta Vibiana,
whose corner-stone had been laid in 1871 on the east side of
Main Street south of Second, was opened for public service,
its architecture (similar to that of the Puerto de San Miguel
in Barcelona, Spain) at once attracting wide attention. As a
matter of fact, the first corner-stone had been placed, on Oc-
tober 3d, 1869, on the west side of Main Street between Fifth
and Sixth, when it was expected that the Cathedral was to ex-
tend to Spring Street. The site, however (and oddly enough,)
was soon pronounced, "too far out of town, " and a move was
undertaken to a point farther north. In more recent years,
efforts have been made to relocate the bishop's church in the
West End. A feature of the original edifice was a front railing,
along the line of the street, composed of blocks of artificial
stone made by Busbard & Hamilton who in 1875 started a
stone factory, the first of its kind here, in East Los Angeles.
Victor Dol, who arrived here in the Centennial year and
became the Delmonico of his day, kept a high-grade restau-
rant, known as the Commercial in the old Downey Block,
about one hundred and fifty feet north of the corner of Spring
1876] Los Angeles & Independence Railroad 491
and Temple streets. The restaurant was reached through a
narrow passageway that first led into an open court paved with
brick, in the center of which a fountain played. Crossing this
court, the interested patron entered the main dining-room, where
an excellent French dinner was served daily at a cost of but
fifty cents, and where the popular chef furnished many of the
notable banquets of his time. Dol also had a number of private
dining-rooms, where the epicures of the period were wont to
meet, and for the privilege of dining in which there was an
additional charge. Dol's Commercial was a popular institution
for more than a quarter of a century.
Dol then had in his employ an uncle, who was a rather mys-
terious individual, and who proved to be a French anarchist.
It was said that his pet scheme for regulating the government of
Louis Philippe met with such scant approval that, one fine
day, he found himself in jail. Escaping in course of time from
the anxious and watchful authorities, he made his way to the
outside world and finally located here. After the Franco-
Prussian "War of 1870-71 , he was supposed to have returned to his
native land, where he once more satisfied his peculiar propensity
for patriotic activity by tearing down and burning, in company
with other so-called Communists, some of the most beautiful
buildings in all Paris.
In the spring of 1876, Los Angeles boasted of another
French restaurant, a dining place called the Oriental and con-
ducted by a Frenchman, C. Casson and a German, H. Schmitt.
It was on Main Street opposite the Pico House, and much ado
was made of the claim that everything was "in European
style" and that it was "the largest and most commodious
restaurant south of San Francisco."
Human nature — at least of the feminine type — was much
the same, thirty-five or forty years ago, as it is to-day. Such a
conclusion, at least, the reader may reach after scanning an
Easter advertisement of Miss Hammond, an 1876 milliner
who had a little shop at 7 North Spring Street and who then
made the following announcement to those of her fashion-
loving sex :
492 Sixty Years in Southern California [1876
Miss Hammond, who has just received a splendid lot of
new styles of hats, bonnets, silks, ribbons, etc., invites the
ladies of Los Angeles to call at her place of business before pur-
chasing elsewhere. One glance into her show-window will
be enough to project any modern heart into a state of palpita-
tion.
Elsewhere I have mentioned the salt works near Redondo's
site. Dr. H. Nadeau (who came here in 1876, had an office in
the Grand Central Hotel and was soon elected Coroner) was
once called there and started with a constable and an under-
taker— the latter carrying with him a rough board coffin for
the prospective "subject." Losing their way, the party had
to camp for the night on the plains; whereupon the Coroner,
opening the coffin, crawled in and "slept like a brick!"
John Edward HoUenbeck, who in 1888 built the Hollenbeck
Hotel, returned to Los Angeles in the spring of 1876 — having
been here in 1874, when he made certain realty investments — ■
secured land on the east side of the Los Angeles River, spent
a large sum of money for improvements and soon built a resi-
dence exceptionally fine for that time. And in this beautiful
home, in close proximity to Boyle Avenue, he lived until his
death, on September 2d, 1885, at the age of fifty-six years.
Succeeding A. C. Bilicke in 1903, John S. Mitchell, long a
prominent Angelefio, is still controlling this busy hostelry.
I have spoken of an adobe on ten acres of land I once pur-
chased to secure water for my flock of sheep. After Hollenbeck
had built his home on Boyle heights, he was so disturbed by
a company of Mexicans who congregated in this adobe that,
in sheer desperation, he asked me in 1882 to sell him the land.
I did so, and we agreed upon six hundred and twenty-five
dollars as a price for the entire piece.
Hollenbeck then made another noteworthy investment.
H. C. Wiley owned a lot, one hundred and twenty feet by one
hundred and sixty-five, on the southeast corner of Fort and
Second streets, where he lived in a small cottage. He had
mortgaged this property for six thousand dollars; but since,
under his contract, Wiley was not required to pay interest,
i876] Los Angeles & Independence Railroad 493
the mortgagee tired of the loan. HoUenbeck bought the
mortgage and made a further advance of four thousand dol-
lars on the property. He finally foreclosed, but at the same
time did the handsome thing when he gave Mrs. Wiley, a
daughter of Andres Pico, a deed for the forty feet on Fort
Street upon which the cottage stood. These forty feet are
almost directly opposite Coulter's dry goods store.
So many ranchers had again and again unsuccessfully ex-
perimented with wheat in this vicinity that when I. N. Van
Nuys, in 1876, joined Isaac Lankershim in renting lands from
the company in which they were interested, and in planting
nearly every acre to that staple grain, failure and even ruin
were predicted by the old settlers. Van Nuys, however,
selected and prepared his seed with care and the first season
rewarded them with a great harvest, which they shipped to
Liverpool. Thus was inaugurated the successful cultivation of
wheat in Southern California on a large scale. In 1878, the
depot of the Southern Pacific at the corner of Alameda and
Commercial streets had become too small for the Company's
growing business, compelling them to buy on San Fernando
Street; and Lankershim and his associates purchased the old
structure from the Company for the sum of seventeen thousand,
five hundred dollars, and there erected a flour mill which they
conducted until the ranch was sold, a few years ago.
One of the very interesting cases in the Los Angeles courts
was that which came before Judge H. K. S. O'Melveny on
May 15th when Mrs. Eulalia Perez Guillen, one hundred and
thirty years old according to the records of the church at San
Gabriel, claimed the right to exhibit herself at the Centennial
Exposition in Philadelphia as a CaHfornia curiosity. She was
accompanied to court by a daughter, Mariana and their
counsel, F. P. Ramirez; but there was also present another
daughter, Mrs. de White, who brought Attorney Stephen M.
White to assist in opposing the visionary scheme. Mariana
admitted that she had not the means to humor the old lady
in her hobby, while Mrs. de White objected that her mother
was in her dotage and could not travel as far as Philadelphia.
494 Sixty Years in Southern California [1876
The Judge granted the old lady liberty to live with either
daughter, but required of Mariana a bond of five hundred
dollars as a guarantee that she would not take her mother out
of the county.
On May 17th, William Workman was gathered to his
fathers, later being buried near the little chapel at La Puente,
side by side with John Rowland, his early comrade and life-
long friend.
An early and popular educator here was Miss E. Bengough
who, about 1870, had started her "Select School for Young
Ladies and Children," and who- on June 5th had one of her
"commencements" in the Spring Street school house. At the
beginning of the eighties, the Bengough school was at No. 3
Third Street. Miss Bengough died, a number of years ago,
after having been for some years at the HoUenbeck Home.
Glowing descriptions of the Centennial Exposition first
attracted the attention of Madame Helena Modjeska, the Polish
lady eventually so famous, and the presence here of a small Polish
colony finally induced her and her husband, Charles Bozenta
Chlapowski, to make the dubious experiment of abandoning the
stimulation of Old World culture and committing themselves
to rustic life near the bee ranch of J. E. Pleasants in Santiago
Canon. Heaps of cigarettes, books and musical instruments
were laid in to help pass the hours pleasantly; but disaster
of one kind or another soon overtook the idealists who found
that "roughing it" in primeval California suggested a night-
mare rather than a pleasant dream. Forced to take up some
more lucrative profession, Madame Modjeska, in July, 1877,
made her debut in San Francisco as Adrienne Lecouvreur
and was soon starring with Booth. This radical departure,
however, did not take the gifted lady away for good ; her love
for California led her to build, near the site of their first encamp-
ment and in what they called the Forest of Arden, a charming
country home to which she repaired when not before the
footlights. Still later, she lived near Newport. More than
one public ovation was tendered Madame Modjeska in Los
Angeles, the community looking upon her as their own ; and I
1876] Los Angeles & Independence Railroad 495
remember a reception to her at 0. W. Childs's home when I
had a better opportunity for noting her unostentatious and
agreeable personality. Modjeska Avenue is a reminder of this
artist's sojourn here.
In June, W. W. Creighton started the Evening Republican;
but during the winter of 1878-79 the paper, for lack of support,
ceased to be published.
Andrew W. Ryan, a Kilkenny Irishman commonly called
Andy, after footing it from Virginia City to Visalia, reached
Los Angeles on horseback and found employment with Ban-
ning as one of his drivers. From 1876 to 1879, he was County
Assessor, later associating himself with the Los Angeles Water
Company until, in 1902, the City came into control of the
system.
CHAPTER XXXIV
THE SOUTHERN PACIFIC
1876
BEFORE the completion of the San Fernando tunnel, a
journey East from Los Angeles by way of Sacramento
was beset with inconveniences. The traveler was lucky
if he obtained passage to San Fernando on other than a con-
struction train, and twenty to twenty-four hours, often at night,
was required for the trip of the Telegraph Stage Line's creak-
ing, swaying coach over the rough road leading to Caliente —
the northern terminal — where the longer stretch of the railroad
north was reached. The stage-lines and the Southern Pacific
Railroad were operated quite independently, and it was there-
fore not possible to buy a through-ticket. For a time previously,
passengers took the stage at San Fernando and bounced over
the mountains to Bakersfield, the point farthest south on the
railroad line. When the Southern Pacific was subsequently
built to Lang's Station, the stages stopped there; and for quite
a while a stage started from each side of the mountain, the two
conveyances meeting at the top and exchanging passengers.
Once I made the journey north by stage to Tipton in Tulare
County, and from Tipton by rail to San Francisco. The Coast
Line and the Telegraph Line stage companies carried passengers
part of the way. The Coast line Stage Company coaches left
Los Angeles every morning at five o'clock and proceeded via
Pleasant Valley, San Buenaventura, Santa Barbara, Guadalupe,
San Luis Obispo and Paso de Robles Hot Springs, and con-
nected at Soledad with the Southern Pacific Railroad bound
496
[i876] The Southern Pacific 497
for San Francisco by way of Salinas City, Gilroy and San Jose ;
and this line made a speciality of daylight travel, thus offering
unusual inducements to tourists. There was no limit as to
time; and passengers were enabled to stop over at any point
and to reserve seats in the stage-coaches by giving some little
notice in advance.
In 1876, I visited New York City for medical attention and
for the purpose of meeting my son, Maurice, upon his return
from Paris. I left Los Angeles on the twenty -ninth of April
by the Telegraph .Stage Line, traveling to San Francisco and
thence east by the Central Pacific Railroad; and I arrived in
New York on the eighth of May. My son returned, June 29th,
on the steamer Abyssinia; and a few days later we started for
home. While in Brooklyn, on June 4th, I attended Plymouth
Church and heard Henry Ward Beecher preach on "Serve
Thy Master with a Will." His rapid transition from the
pathetic to the humorous, and back to the pathetic, was most
effective.
Our itinerary brought us to the Centennial Exhibition in
Philadelphia, on the Fourth of July ; and aside from the peculiar
satisfaction at being present on historic ground upon that
anniversary, I recall, with pleasure, many experiences and im-
pressions new and interesting, notwithstanding the inconven-
ience caused by the great crowds. At the Exhibition, which
had a circumference of only three and a half miles, I saw Cali-
fornia's small but very creditable display; and I remember my
astonishment at seeing a man seated before an apparatus, ap-
parently in the act of printing letters. He was demonstrating
an early typewriter, and I dictated to my wife half a dozen
lines which he rapidly typed upon paper. Of the various na-
tions, the Japanese and the Chinese attracted me most. Ma-
chinery Hall, with its twelve hundred machines all run by one
huge Corliss engine, was as noisy as it was interesting. The
New York Herald and the Times were printed there daily. In
the Art Gallery there was one marble figure so beautifully
draped that a young lady, passing by, said: "Father, why don't
they remove that lace shawl from the statue?" During the
49^ Sixty Years in Southern California [iSyu
evening, on the balconies of the Union League Club, we
enjoyed a torchlight parade never to be forgotten.
On our way West we stopped at Salt Lake City ; and as we
had been informed that Brigham Young would be at the Opera
House that evening, we attended the performance. I have
forgotten the name of the play, but Rose Eytinge was the star.
Brigham sat in his private box with two of his wives; and as it
was a very hot night in July and the building was packed
with people, his wives were both fanning him assiduously and
otherwise contributing to his comfort. The following day we
called at his residence to see him, expecting to renew an ac-
quaintanceship established years before; but to our regret he
was ill and could not receive us. A few months later, he died.
Leaving Salt Lake City early in August, we traveled by the
Central Pacific to San Francisco where several days were very
pleasantly spent with my brother and his family, and from there
we left for Los Angeles, taking the Southern Pacific to its
terminus at Lang's Station. Proceeding over the mountain
by stage, we arrived at what is now the south end of the long
tunnel and there boarded the train for this city.
Among others who went from Los Angeles to the Philadel-
phia Centennial was Ben C. Truman. He took with him speci-
mens of choice California plants, and wrote letters, from various
stations on the way, to his paper, the Star. Governor and Mrs.
Downey, whom I met in New York in June, were also at the
Exhibition.
Ben Truman's visit recalls the enterprise of preparing a
booklet for circulation at the exposition setting forth the
advantages of Los Angeles, and the fact that the Star was the
first to propose sending copies of the local newspapers to
Philadelphia, at the same time agreeing to contribute its share.
In that connection, it also referred to a previous, similar
experiment, endorsed by Truman, in these words :
This City has never been so prosperous as when the Chamber
of Commerce sent fifty papers each week for one year of the
Herald, Express and Star, to the leading hotels and libraries
1876] The Southern Pacific 499
throughout the country, a movement inaugurated and carried
out by Mr. M. J. Newmark. Those few papers, distributed
where they would do the most good, filled our hotels and
boarding houses, and sent joy to the hearts of the real estate
dealers. It's a most trifling thing to do, and "there's millions
in it."
Another interesting experiment in early advertising, by
means of the stereopticon, was made in 1876 when the Los
Angeles photographer, Henry T. Payne, exhibited at Phila-
delphia a fine selection of views designed to inform the spectator
about Southern California and to attract him hither. Toward
the end of May, Payne left for the East, taking with him a first-
class stereopticon and nearly a thousand lantern slides of the
old wet-plate process, the views being the product of Payne's
own skill and labor.
For some time prior to 1876, the suitable observance here
of the anniversary of the Nation's independence had been fre-
quently discussed, and when James J. Ayers called a meeting
of citizens in the County Court House, on the evening of April
29th, and another on May 6th, it was decided to celebrate the
Fourth of July in a manner worthy of the occasion. Com-
mittees were appointed to arrange the details ; and when the
eventful day arrived, the largest throngs in the City's history
assembled to give vent to their patriotism.
The procession — led by Grand Marshal H. M. Mitchell,
assisted by Marshals Eugene Meyer, Francisco Guirado, John
F. Godfrey and Otto von Ploennies, mounted on the best-
groomed steeds of the Fashion Stables — formed towards ten
o'clock and was half an hour in passing the corner of Temple,
Spring and Main streets. The Woods Opera House Band,
the Los Angeles Guard and the Los Angeles Rifleros assisted.
The parade wended its tortuous way from the Aliso Mills
in the northeast to the Round House in the south.
An interesting feature of the march was the division of
Mexican War Veterans. Forty-two of these battle-scarred
soldiers, a number of whom had become prominent in civic life,
lined up, among them General George Stoneman, Captain
500 Sixty Years in Southern California [1876
William Turner, Dr. J. S. Griffin, Major Henry Hancock, S. C.
Foster, John Schumacher, L. C. Goodwin, D. W. Alexander
and A. W. Timms. Another feature worthy of note was the
triumphal chariot of the French Benevolent Society, in which
three young ladies represented respectively the Goddess of Lib-
erty, France and America. Fire Engine Company No. 38,
Confidence Engine Company No. 2 and the Hook and Ladder
Company formed another division, followed by several soci-
eties and secret orders. In one float thirteen young ladies
represented the thirteen original colonies and in another
twenty-five damsels portrayed the rest of the States. There
were also the Forty-niners, the butchers and the other trades-
men; while George and Martha Washington accompanied the
Philadelphia Brewery !
For this local celebration of the Centennial, streets, pub-
lic buildings, stores and private residences were beautifully
decorated, portraits of Washington being everywhere. Hell-
man, Haas & Company, S. C. Foy, the Los Angeles Social
Club and H. Newmark & Company were among those who
especially observed the day. There was a triple arch on Main
Street, with a center span thirty feet wide and thirty feet
high, and statues of Washington, Grant and others. The rail-
road depots and trains were also fittingly adorned ; and at the
residence and grounds of Consular Agent Moerenhaut, the
Stars and Stripes, with the French tricolor, were displayed
under the legend, "Friends Since One Hundred Years." The
Pico House was perhaps the most elegantly adorned, having
a column, a flagstaff and a Liberty cap, with the enthusiastic
legends :
1776. 1876. Now for 1976!
To the patrons of the Pico House: May you live 100 years!
No North, no South, no East, no West!
The Round House gardens having been reached, the literary
and musical program began. The band played Hail Columbia!
and General Phineas Banning, the presiding officer, introduced
the Rev. T. T. Packard who delivered the opening prayer.
William Pridham
Benjamin Hayes
Isaac Lankershim
Rabbi A. W. Edelman
1876] The Southern Pacific 501
Banning then made a short patriotic address; America was
sung by several church choirs of the city ; Professor Thomas A.
Saxon read the Declaration of Independence; the choirs sang
the Red, White and Blue; and J. J. Ayers, as poet of the oc-
casion, read an. original poem. Yankee Doodle came after
that; and then James G. Eastman, as orator of the day,
delivered the address, reviewing the civilization and wonders
of every age, and tickling the hearers' vanity with perorations
such as this :
When the mournful zephyrs, passing the plain where Mara-
thon once stood, shall find no mound to kiss ; when the arch of
Titus shall have been obliterated ; the Colosseum crumbled into
antique dust; the greatness of Athens degenerated into dim
tradition; Alexander, Caesar and Napoleon forgotten; the
memories of Independence Hall shall still bloom in imperishable
freshness !
At the conclusion of the oration, Jacob A. Moerenhout, the
venerable French representative, spoke very appropriately of the
relation of France to America in our great Revolutionary
struggle; after which the Rev. A. W. Edelman concluded the
exercises by pronouncing the benediction. The celebration had
a soul in it and no doubt compensated in patriotic sincerity
for what it may have lacked in classical elegance.
Incidental to this commemoration, the Literary Committee
having in charge the exercises had named Don J. J. Warner,
Judge Benjamin Hayes and Dr. J. P. Widney a sub-committee
to compile the most interesting data about the old town from
the Spanish occupancy by the founding of the Mission at San
Gabriel; and on the Fourth of July, or within less than two
months after their appointment, the historians produced their
report — to which I have already referred — a document, known
as An Historical Sketch of Los Angeles County, Calijornia, which,
in spite of the errors due to the short period allotted the edi-
tors, is still interesting and valuable; portraying, as it does,
various characteristics of early life in the Southland and pre-
serving to posterity many names and minor fa'cts.
502 Sixty Years in Southern California [1876
In the summer of 1875, fifteen hundred men began to dig
their way into the San Fernando Mountains; and about the
end of the first week in September, 1876, the long tunnel was
completed — a bore six thousand nine hundred and forty feet
in length, beginning twenty-seven miles from Los Angeles.
During the course of construction, vast quantities of candles,
generally the best, were employed to furnish light for the work-
men, H. Newmark & Company supplying most of the illumi-
nants.
Some of the facts concerning the planning, building and
attendant celebration of this now famous tunnel should be
peculiarly interesting to the Angeleno of to-day, as also to his
descendants, for not only do they possess intrinsic historical
importance, but they exemplify as well both the comparative
insignificance of Los Angeles at the time when this great engi-
neering feat was so successfully undertaken and the occasional
futility of human prophecies, even when such prophecies are
voiced by those most fitted at the time to deliver them.
I have already mentioned the interview which Governor
Downey and I had with CoUis P. Huntington, in San Fran-
cisco, when we presented the arguments of Los Angeles for
the extension of the Southern Pacific Railroad to this point.
The greatest difficulty, from an engineering standpoint, was the
boring and finishing of the San Fernando tunnel, and the then
small town of Los Angeles was compelled to pass through much
aiscouragement before she became the Southern terminus of the
road, a selection of the most vital importance to her future
prosperity and growth. In the first place, a Mr. Rice, whose
office was in Temple Block, represented the Railroad Company
in telling the citizens of Los Angeles that if they did not appropri-
ate toward the undertaking two hundred and fifty thousand
dollars — then an enormous sum of money — Los Angeles would
be left out of the line of travel and the railroad would be built
so as to pass several miles inland, compelling our city to make
a choice between putting in a branch to connect with the
main line or resigning any claim she might have to become a
railroad center.' In fact, this is precisely what occurred in the
1876] The Southern Pacific 503
case of Visalia and a number of other towns; that is to say:
they are to-day the termini of railroad feeders, instead of a
part of the main Une as they perhaps might have been.
When this threat or warning was delivered, an agitation im-
mediately set in, both to collect the money that the Company
demanded and to influence its management to include Los
Angeles on the main line. Judge R. M. Widney was one of the
prominent figures in the local campaign. The Chamber of
Commerce, through its President, Solomon Lazard, also buckled
on its armor in behalf of Los Angeles and entered the lists.
Notably it sent a telegram to the United States Senate — the
railroad, as is well known, having received land-grants of ines-
timable value from Congress and being considered, therefore,
susceptible to influence; and this telegram was penned with
such classical eloquence that it. poured seventy-five dollars into
the coffers of the telegraph company. The net result of the
campaign was the decision of the Railroad Company to include
Los Angeles among the favored stations.
The politics of the situation having thus been satisfactorily
settled, the engineering problems began to cast their shadows.
General Stoneman stated that the tunnel bore could not be
effected, an opinion which was by no means uncommon at that
time. Others again said that people would never be induced
to travel through so long a tunnel ; still another set of pessimists
stated that the winter rains would cause it to cave in, to which
Senator Stanford laconically replied that it was "too damned
dry in Southern California for any such catastrophe." This
railroad and the tunnel, however, were fortunately to become
one of those happy instances in which the proposals of man
and the disposals of the Lord are identical, for in course of time
both found their completion under the able direction of railroad
genius, assisted in no small way by the gangs of thousands of
Orientals who did the hard road- work.
As in the case with practically every Southern Californian
enterprise, the finishing of this great undertaking was accom-
panied by a rather elaborate celebration. A delegation of
San Francisco citizens, one of whom was my brother, met at
504 Sixty Years in Southern California [1876
Newhall a delegation from Los Angeles including S. Lazard'
and myself, and I thus have the pleasant recollection of having
been among the very first who went through the tunnel on
that initial trip. Having arrived at Newhall, the citizens of
the Northern and Southern cities symbolized, by fraternal
handshaking, the completion of this new and strongest bond
between them. Amidst general rejoicing, and with thou-
sands of Chinamen lined up on either side of the track, each
at full attention and all presenting their — shovels! — General
D. D. Colton drove the golden spike which bound the rails
from the North with the rails from the South. After consider-
able speech-making and celebrating, most of the company
boarded the train for Los Angeles, where the jollification was
concluded with a banquet, a ball, illuminations and other fes-
tivities. Possibly due to the great increase in Chinese brought
to Southern California through railroad work, repeated demon-
strations against the Mongolians were made here at meetings
during the summer.
Shortly after the completion of the Southern Pacific Rail-
road the people of Los Angeles became very much dissatisfied
with the Company's method of handling their business, and
especially with the arbitrary rulings of J. C. Stubbs in making
freight rates. On one occasion, for example, a shipper ap-
proched Stubbs and asked for a rate on a carload of potatoes
from San Francisco to Tucson. Stubbs asked him how much
he expected to pay for the potatoes and what he would get for
them; and having obtained this information, he allowed the
shipper a small profit and took the balance for freight. This
dissatisfaction on the part of an enterprising community accus-
tomed to some liberality found in time such an open expression
that Charles F. Crocker, one of the original promoters of the
Central, and one of the owners of the Southern Pacific, who
had occasionally visited Los Angeles, came down to confer
with the City Council at a public meeting.
Crocker, as President of the Central Pacific Railroad Com-
pany, was a very important man, and I felt at the time that he
' Died, January 13, 1915, in the ninetieth year of his age.
1876] The Southern Pacific 505
was most discourteously received by those with whom he had
come to discuss the situation. The meeting, which I attended,
was held in the small Council Room, and I well remember the
oppressive closeness. The place was, indeed, packed; people
were smoking and chewing tobacco ; and the reader may per-
haps imagine the extreme condition of both the atmosphere
and the floor. This, however, was not all : when one of the
Councilmen — out of regard, I suppose, for the railroad Presi-
dent's other engagements — asked that Mr. Crocker be permitted
to address the City Fathers, J. S. Thompson, a revolutionary
Councilman, stood up and declared that the San Francisco
magnate would be heard when his time came and — not before !
How this lack of consideration impressed the visitor may be
seen from the conclusion of my story.
After a while, Crocker was allowed to speak; and in the
course of his remarks he stated that the Southern Pacific Rail-
road Company had invested a great amount of money, and
that it was necessary to realize proper interest on their expend-
iture. Thereupon, Isaac W. Lord, one of the spectators, after
whom Lordsburg was named, arose and begged to tell a little
story. An ambitious individual, he said, who had once built
a hotel on the desert at a cost of one hundred and fifty thou-
sand dollars, was without a guest until, one day, a lone trav-
eler rode across the burning sands and put up for the night at
the hostelry. Next morning, the stranger was handed a bill
for seventy-five dollars; and upon inquiring why so much
had been charged, the proprietor explained that he had spent
one hundred and fifty thousand dollars in building the hotel;
that the stranger was, thus far. the first and only guest ; and
that, therefore, he must pay his part of the interest on the
investment.
The story, to Mr. Crocker's discomfiture, brought a loud
laugh; and it was then, before the laughter had died out, that
the famous railroad man, resuming the debate, made his
memorable threat :
' ' If this be the spirit in which Los Angeles proposes to deal
with the railroad upon which the town's very vitality must
5o6 Sixty Years in Southern California [1876
depend, / will make grass to grow in the streets of your city I"
And, considering the fate that has befallen more than
one community which coldly regarded the proposals of these
same California railroads, Crocker's warning was not without
significance.
The Crocker incident having left matters in a worse state
than before. Colonel Eldridge E. Hewitt, agent for the
Southern Pacific, brought Governor Stanford to my office
and introduced him. Stanford stated that his road would
soon be in operation and expressed the hope that H. Newmark
& Company would patronize it. I told Stanford that our
relations with the steamship company had always been very
pleasant, but that we would be very glad to give his line a
share of our business, if rates were made satisfactory. At the
same time, the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, having
secured control of the Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad, issued
circulars announcing that steamer freight would henceforth be
classified. As this was a violent departure from established
precedents, it foreshadowed trouble; and, sure enough, rates
moved upward from eight to as high as thirty dollars a ton,
according to classification.
H. Newmark & Company and Hellman, Haas & Company,
who were the heaviest shippers in Los Angeles, together with
a number of other merchants, decided to charter a steamer
or sailing vessel. James McFadden, of Santa Ana, owned the
tramp steamboat Newport which plied between San Francisco
and Newport Landing, in an irregular lumber-trade; and this,
after some negotiations, we engaged for three years, on the
basis of three dollars per ton. Having made this contract,
we entered valiantly into the contest; and, in order suitably
to impress the Southern Pacific Railroad Company with our
importance, we loaded the vessel, on her initial trip, to the gun-
wales. Now cargo, on arriving at Wilmington at that time,
used to be loaded into cars, brought to Los Angeles and left
in the freight shed until we removed it at our convenience ; but
when the Newport arrived, the vessel was unloaded and the
merchandise put into the warehouse at Wilmington, where it
1876] The Southern Pacific 507
was held several days before it was reshipped. On its arrival
in Los Angeles, the Railroad Company gave notice that re-
moval must be effected within twenty-four hours, or demur-
rage would be charged; and since, with the small facilities in
those days at our command, so prompt a withdrawal of an
entire cargo was a physical impossibility, our expenses were
straightway heavily increased.
Subsequent to this first shipment, we adopted a more
conservative policy, in spite of which our troubles were to
multiply. The Southern Pacific Railroad Company named a
rate of three dollars a ton in less than carload lots between San
Francisco and way-stations, and this induced many of our
country customers to trade in that city. At the same time,
the Company carried many lines between San Francisco and
Los Angeles free of charge, potatoes and other heavy items
being favored. The mask was now discarded, and it be-
came evident that we were engaged in a Ufe-and-death
struggle.
Had there been a united front, the moral effect might have
sustained us in the unequal contest; but unfortunately, H.
Newmark & Company were abandoned by every shipper in Los
Angeles except Hellman, Haas & Company, and we soon found
that fighting railroad companies recalled the adage, "The
game's not worth the candle." At the end of ten months of
sacrifices, we invoked the assistance of my former partner and
friend, Phineas Banning, who was then associated with the
Southern Pacific; and he visited the officials in San Francisco
in our behalf. Stanford told him that the Railroad Company,
rather than make a single concession, would lose a million dol-
lars in the conflict ; but Banning finally induced the Company
to buy the Newport, which brought to a close the first fight in
Los Angeles against a railroad.
In the winter of 1876-77, a drought almost destroyed the
sheep industry in Southern California. As a last resort, the
ranchers, seeing the exhausted condition of their ranges,
started to drive their sheep to Arizona, New Mexico or Utah ;
but most of them fell by the way.
5o8 Sixty Years in Southern California [1876]
Again, we had the coincidence of drought and a fatal
epidemic of smallpox, not only leaving death in its wake, but
incidentally damaging business a good deal. Mrs. Juan Lan-
franco was one of those who died; Mr. and Mrs. Solomon La-
zard lost a son, and a grocer by the name of Henry Niedecken,
who had a little frame store where the Angelus Hotel now
stands, as well as many others, succumbed.
CHAPTER XXXV
THE REVIVAL OF THE SOUTHLAISTD
I877-1880
THE late seventies were marked by an encouraging awaken-
ing of national energy and a growing desire on the part
of the Angeleiio, notwithstanding the excessive local
dullness, to bring the outside world a pace or two nearer; as a
result of which, things began to simmer, while there was an
unmistakable manifestation on the part of those at places
more or less remote to explore the almost unknown Southwest,
especially that portion bordering on the Pacific.
I have already noted, with varying dates, the time when
patents to land were issued. These dates remind me of the
long years during which some of the ranch owners had to wait
before they received a clear title to their vast estates. Al-
though, as I have said, the Land Commission was in session
during the first decade of my residence here, it was a quarter
of a century and more, in some cases, after the Commissioners
had completed their reports before the Washington authorities
issued the desired patents confirming the Mexican grants;
and by that time, not a few of those who had owned the ranches
at the beginning of the American occupancy were dead and
buried.
William Mulholland, who was really trained for navigation
and had followed the sea for four or five years, steered for Los
Angeles in 1877 and associated himself with the Los Angeles
Water Company, giving his attention especially to hydraulic
engineering and passing as it were in 1902, with the rest of
509
5IO Sixty Years in Southern California [1877-
the water-plant, to the City when it bought the Company
out.
On March 226., the Common Council changed the name
of Nigger Alley, in the adobe days known as Calle de los Negros,
to that of Los Angeles Street ; and thus faded away a designa-
tion of Los Angeles' early gambling district long familiar to
old settlers. The same year, the City marshalship, which J.
J. Carrillo had held during 1875-76, was discontinued, and J. F.
Gerkins was appointed the first Chief of Police.
Part of the property included in the blanket mortgage
given by Temple & Workman to E. J. Baldwin was Temple
Block; and when this was sold at sheriff's sale in 1877, H. New-
mark & Company decided to acquire it if they could. Dan
Freeman, acting for Baldwin, was our only competitor;
and after a somewhat spirited contest, the property was
knocked down to us. In 1909, we sold Temple Block to the
City of Los Angeles. Quite a large contribution of money was
then made by adjoining landowners, with the understanding
that the site would form the nucleus for a civic center ; but thus
far this solemn promise remains unfulfilled — more's the shame,
especially since the obligation is precisely coincidental with the
City's needs.
In 1877, Colonel R. S. Baker erected the block bearing
his name on the site of the historic adobe home of Don
Abel Stearns, the walls of which structure, when demolished,
killed two of the workmen. This building, the most mod-
ern of that period, immediately became the scene of much
retail activity ; and three wide-awake merchants — Eugene Ger-
main, George D. Rowan and Rev. B. F. Coulter — moved into
it. Germain was the first of these to arrive in Los Angeles,
coming in 1870 and, soon after, establishing several trading
posts along the line of the Southern Pacific during its construc-
tion through Arizona. One day, while inspecting branches
in this wild and woolly region, Germain ran into a party of
cowboys who were out gunning; and just for a little diversion,
they took to peppering the vicinity of his feet, which attention
persuaded him into a high-step less graceful than alert. Ger-
i88o] The Revival of the Southland 511
main came to occupy many positions of trust, being appointed,
in 1889, Commissioner from California to the Paris Exposition,
and later American Consul at Zurich, Switzerland. Next among
the tenants was George D. Rowan, who opened a grocery store
in the Strelitz Block, opposite the old Jail, remaining there
until the completion of Baker's building; thus supplying an-
other illustration of the tendency then predominating to gravi-
tate toward the extreme northern end of the town. In several
enterprises. Rowan was a pioneer: he brought from Chicago
the first phaeton seen on our streets; and in conjunction with
Germain, he inaugurated the shipping of California products,
in carload lots, to the Eastern market. He was also one of
the first to use pennies here. Withdrawing from the grocery
trade, in 1882, he busied himself with real estate until 1892,
when he retired. A public-spirited man, he had the greatest
confidence in the future of Los Angeles, and was instrumental
in subdividing much important acreage, including the block
between Sixth, Seventh, Hill and Olive streets, which he sold
in sixty-foot lots at prices as low as six hundred dollars each.
He was a prime mover in having the name of Fort Street altered
to that of Broadway, certainly a change of questionable pro-
priety considering the origin of the old name. Rowan died
on September 7th, 1901. His sons, R. A. and P. D. Rowan,
constitute the firm of R. A. Rowan & Company. Reverend
Coulter, father of Frank M. Coulter,' brought his family to
Los Angeles on September 17th, 1877, ^t^^ after a short as-
sociation in the hardware firm of Harper & Coulter, he en-
tered the dry goods field as B. F. Coulter, now the Coulter
Dry Goods Company. In 1878, Coulter bought the woolen
mills on Pearl Street near Fifth. Coulter was a man of genial
temperament and great integrity; and I shall have occasion
to speak of him again.
R. F. Del Valle was bom in December, 1854, ^^ the Plaza
ancestral home, where, before the family's removal to Camulos
rancho, I frequently saw him playing when I attended the po-
litical councils at his father's home. By the by, I believe that
'Died on October 27th, 1915.
512 Sixty Years in Southern California [1877-
J. L. Brent had his law office there, which may account for
those gatherings. Del Valle's boyhood days were spent in and
around Los Angeles. He studied law in San Francisco and re-
turned to Los Angeles in 1877, a promising young orator and
attorney. Since that period he has been in public life practi-
cally all of the time. For some time past he has been a mem-
ber of the Water Board. He has been frequently honored by
the Democratic party, especially in 1880, when as elector he
was instructed to vote for our former fellow-townsman, General
W. S. Hancock. In 1890, Del Valle married Mrs. Helen Cay-
stile, widow of Thomas Caystile and daughter of Caleb E. White,
a Pomona horticulturist and sheepman.
A murder case of the late seventies was notable on account of
the tragic fate of two indirect participants. On October loth,
G. M. Waller, custodian of the land company's bath-house at
Santa Monica, detected Victor Fonck, who had been warned
to keep off the premises, in the act of erecting a private bath-
house on the beach, and shot him in the leg, from which
wound, after two days, Fonck died. In his defense. Waller
claimed that, as watchman, he was acting under orders from
E. S. Parker, the land company's agent. Waller was found
guilty of involuntary homicide and sentenced on January 25th,
1878, to one year in the Penitentiary. Parker, on the other
hand, was convicted of murder in the second degree, and on
March 8th was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment. This
severe and unexpected punishment caused a mental excite-
ment from which Parker soon died ; and, but a few days later,
his broken-hearted wife fell dead.
Annual public fairs were centers of social life as late as the
middle of the seventies, one being held, about 1876 or 1877, in
the old Alameda Street depot, which, decorated with evergreens
and flowers, had been transformed into a veritable garden.
With succeeding years, these displays, for some time in Horti-
cultural Hall on Temple Street, came to be more and more
enchanting. Still later, one or more flower festivals were held
in Hazard's Pavilion on Fifth Street, near Olive, that of 1889
in particular attracting, in the phraseology of a local newspaper,
i88o] The Revival of the Southland 513
"one of the largest and most brilliant gatherings in the history
of the city." It is indeed a pity that these charming exhibi-
tions, requiring but the mere bringing together of some of the
flowers so bountifully supplied us, have been abandoned.
On February ist, 1878, twenty-three years after the Odd
Fellows first organized here, their newly-constructed hall in
the.Oxarart Block at 108 North Spring Street was dedicated
with elaborate ceremonies.
About 1878, Captain George J. Clarke, who had been
Postmaster from 1866 to 1873, and who lived well out of town,
offered me sixty feet adjoining my home on Fort Street, a site
now occupied by the J. W. Robinson Company. He asked
one hundred dollars a foot for the Fort Street frontage alone,
but as only sixteen dollars a foot had been paid for the full
depth to Hill Street of the piece I already owned, I refused to
purchase; nor was I persuaded even when he threatened to
erect a livery stable next to my house.
Another item respecting land values, and how they im-
pressed me: in 1878, Nadeau purchased, for twenty thousand
dollars, the site of the Nadeau Hotel, whereupon I told him
that he was crazy ; but later events proved him to have been a
better judge than I.
Sometime in the late seventies, Jerry Illich started a chop-
house on North Main Street and prospered so well that in time
he was able to open a larger and much finer establishment
which he called the Maison Doree. This restaurant was one
of the best of the time, and became the rendezvous of men
about town. In 1896, Jerry moved again, this time to Third
Street opposite the Bradbury Block; and thither went with
him his customers of former days. When Illich died in
December, 1902, he had the finest restaurant in the city.
In April the Public Library was transferred to the care of
the City. In the beginning, as I have stated, a fee of five dol-
lars was charged to patrons; somewhat later, it is my recollec-
tion, a legislative enactment permitted a small addition to the
tax-rate for the partial support of this worthy enterprise, and
this municipal assistance enabled the directors to carry the
33
514 Sixty Years in Southern California [1877-
work along even though the annual membership fee was re-
duced to four dollars, payable quarterly.
On September 25th, General John C. Fremont arrived in
Los Angeles on his way to Arizona, of which Territory he had
been appointed Governor; and accompanied by his wife and
daughter, he was driven at once to the St. Charles Hotel.
There, in response to a demonstration by the citizens, he re-
ferred to the great changes which had taken place here during
his absence of thirty years. Two days later. General Fre-
mont and family left for Yuma, the explorer traveling that route
by means of the iron horse for the first time
Benjamin Franklin Taylor, the lecturer and author, visited
Los Angeles, in 1878, and wrote the sympathetic book. Between
the Gates, full of just discrimination and hopeful views respect-
ing the Southland.
Some new ordinances regulating vegetable venders having
been passed in the winter of 1878-79, the Chinese peddlers went
on a strike, and for some time refused, to the inconvenience
of their dependent customers, to supply any truck-farm
products.
During the Postmastership of Colonel Isaac R. Dunkel-
berger, the Post Office was moved, in 1879, to the Oxarart Block
on North Spring Street near First. There it continued for
eight years, contributing much toward making the neighborhood
an important commercial center.
M. J. Newmark, having sold to his partners his interest
in the firm of H. Newmark & Company, left Los Angeles, in
1879, for San Francisco, after building a residence on Spring
Street next to the southwest corner of Spring and Seventh and
adjoining the dwellings owned by Kaspare Cohn and M. A.
Newmark. Each of these houses stood on a sixty -foot lot; and
to protect themselves from possibly unpleasant neighbors, the
holders had bought the corner of Seventh and Spring streets for
four hundred and twenty-five dollars. On his departure, M. J.
Newmark committed his affairs to my care, desiring to dispose
of his place; and I offered it to L N. Van Nuys for seven thou-
sand five hundred dollars, which represented the cost of the
i88oi The Revival of the Southland 515
house alone. Times were quite hard in Los Angeles at this
period; and when Van Nuys said that he would give six
thousand five hundred dollars for it, I accepted his offer and
induced the owners to sell to him the corner lot for four hun-
dred and seventy-five dollars. This is the earlier history of
the corner now occupied by the I. N. Van Nuys Building, in
which the First National Bank conducts its affairs.
Long before there was any necessity for cutting Sixth Street
through, east of Main, George Kerckhoff (who, in 1879, had
brought his family from Indiana) bought the six acres formerly
belonging to the intrepid pioneer, J. J. Warner, and, in the midst
of this pretty orchard, built the home in which he continued to
reside until 1896, when he died. William G. Kerckhoff, a son,
came with his father and almost immediately engaged in the
lumber business with James Cuzner. An ordinary man might
have found this enterprise sufficient, especially as it expanded
with the building up of our Southland communities; but this
was not so with the younger Kerckhoff, who in 1892 entered
the ice business, after which effort, within ten years, he evolved
the San Gabriel Electric Company. Henry E. Huntington
then associated himself with this enterprise, somewhat later
buying that part of the Kerckhoff property on which the
Huntington Building, opposite the Kerckhoff, now stands;
and as a result of the working together of two such minds,
huge electrical enterprises culminated in the Pacific Light and
Power Company.
The year 1879 was tragic in my family. On the 20th of Janu-
ary, our son PhUip, only nine years of age, died of diphtheria;
and a trifle more than three weeks later, on February nth,
Leo, a baby of three years, succumbed to the same treach-
erous disease. Barely had the grave closed on the second, when
a daughter became seriously ill, and after her recovery, in a fit
of awful consternation we fled the plague-infected house and
the city, taking with us to San Francisco, Edward, a son of
five years. But alas! hardly had we returned to town, when
he also died, on March 17th, 1879.
In May, Judge R. M. Widney broached to the Rev. A. M.
51 6 Sixty Years in Southern California [1877-
Hough, Rev. M. M. Bovard, E. F. Spence, Dr. J. P. Widney
and G. D. Compton his project for the first Protestant institu-
tion of higher learning in Southern California ; and meeting with
their encouragement, certain land in West Los Angeles, con-
sisting of three hundred and eight acres, was accepted in trust
as a gift from I. W. Hellman, J. G. Downey and O. W. Childs,
forty acres being later added. In 1 880, the first building was
put up on Wesley Avenue ; and on the sixth of October the col-
lege was opened. Most of the projectors were Methodists ; and
the institution, since known as the University of Southern Cal-
ifornia, became a Methodist college. The beginning of the
institution has been odd : its first department of arts was built,
in 1883, at Ontario; while two years later its theological school
was opened at San Fernando. Recently, under the energetic
administration of President F. D. Bovard, the University has
made much progress.
A. B. Chapman, about 1879, joined C. T. Paul in opening
a hardware store at 12 Commercial Street, with a little tin-
shop opposite ; and they soon introduced here the first gasoline
stoves, to which the insurance companies at once seriously
objected.
Probably the earliest Los Angeles newspaper published in
French was a weekly, L' Union Nouvelle, which commenced
in 1879 with P. Ganee as editor.
Exceeding the limits of animated editorial debate into which
the rival journalists had been drawn in the heated campaign of
1879, William A. Spalding, a reporter on the Evening Express,
waited for Joseph D. Lynch, the editor of the Herald, at about
eleven o'clock in the morning of August i6th, and peppered
away with a bull-dog pistol at his rival, as the latter, who had
just left the Pico House, was crossing Spring Street from Tem-
ple Block to go to the Herald office. Lynch dropped his cane,
and fumbled for his shooting-iron; but by the time he could
return the fire, A. de Cells and other citizens had thrust them-
selves forward, making it doubly perilous to shoot at all.
Spalding sent the bullet which wounded, not his adversary, but
a bystander, L. A. Major of Compton.
i88o] The Revival of the Southland 517
Colonel G. Wiley Wells arrived in 1879, after a Civil War
career in which his left arm was permanently crippled. He
also served as United States District Attorney in Mississippi,
where he prosecuted many of the Ku-Klux Klan, and as
United States Consul-General to China, where he had a varied
experience with men and affairs. With A. Brunson, he formed
the law partnership of Brunson & Wells, having offices in
the Baker Block. The next year, Bradner W. Lee, a nephew
of Wells, who had arrived here in 1 879, was added to the firm.
After fifteen years' practice in the local courts, during which
time Wells became a noted figure, he retired to private life
at Santa Monica, disposing of his extensive law library,
consisting of some six thousand volumes, to his successors.
Works & Lee.
Henry Milner Mitchell, to whom I have referred as assisting
to run down Vasquez, reached Los Angeles by way of Nicaragua
in 1868, and was successively a surveyor, a reporter, a law
student and, finally, from 1878 to 1879, Sheriff. In 1879,
he was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of
California, and in the same year, he married the eldest daughter
of Andrew Glassell. Eventually he met a very tragic death:
while hunting near the scene of Vasquez's capture, he was
shot by a friend who mistook him for a deer.
Colonel Henry Harrison Markham, a New Yorker, pitched
his tent in Los Angeles and Pasadena in 1879, and was elected to
Congress from the Sixth District, defeating R. F. Del Valle.
He succeeded in getting one hundred and fifty thousand dollars
for a public building and appropriations for Wilmington and
other harbors; and he also aided in establishing army head-
quarters at Los Angeles for Arizona, New Mexico and Southern
California.
Carl Seligman left Germany for America in 1879 and spent
a year in San Francisco, after which he removed to Tucson,
Arizona. And there he remained, engaged in the wholesale
and retail grocery business until, on December 6th, 1885, he
married my daughter Ella, following which event he bought an
interest in the firm of M. A. Newmark & Company.
5i8 Sixty Years in Southern California [1877-
The early eighties witnessed a commercial development so
marked as to remind one of the proverbial grass that could be
heard to grow. During an entire century, business (centered,
like social life, more or less about the Plaza) had crawled south-
ward to First Street, a distance of but three or four blocks ; and
now, in five or six years, trade passed First, extended along both
Main and Spring streets and reached almost to, or just beyond
Second. At this time, the Baker Block, at the corner of North
Main and Arcadia streets, which contained the first town
ticket-office of the Southern Pacific Railroad, was still the
center of the retail trade of Los Angeles.
And yet some idea of the backwardness of the city, even
then, may be obtained from the fact that, in 1880, on the
southwest corner of Spring and Second streets where the
HoUenbeck Hotel was later built, stood a horse corral; while
the old adobe on the lot at the corner of First and Spring
streets, which was torn down later to make room for the Hotel
Nadeau, was also still there.
Obadiah Truax Barker settled in Los Angeles in 1880 and,
with Otto Mueller, started a furniture and carpet business,
known as Barker & Mueller's, at 113 North Spring Street.
Strange as it seems, however, the newcomers found themselves
too far from the business district; and, on Mueller's retiring,
O. T. Barker & Sons moved to a store near the Pico House.
Now the firm is Barker Brothers.
In fond recollection, the homely cheerfulness of the old-
time adobe recurs again and again. The eighties, however,
were characterized by another form of dwelling, fashionable
and popular; some examples of which, half -ruined, are still to
be seen. This was the frame house, large and spacious with
wide, high, curving verandas, semicircular bay-windows, towers
and cupolas. Flower-bordered lawns generally encircled these
residences; there were long, narrow hallways and more spare
bedrooms than the less intimate hospitality of to-day suggests
or demands.
On January ist, 1880, the District Court of Los Angeles was
abolished to give way to the County Court ; on which occasion
i88o] The Revival of the Southland 519
Don Ygnacio Sepiilveda, the last of the District Court judges,
became the first County Judge.
The first cement pavement in the city was laid on Main
Street north of First by a man named Floyd. Having
bought Temple Block, we were thinking of surrounding it
with a wooden sidewalk. Floyd recommended cement, asking
me, at the same time, to inspect a bit of pavement which he
had just put down. I did so, and took his advice ; and from this
small beginning has developed the excellent system of paving
now enjoyed by Los Angeles.
In 1880, there visited Southern CaUfornia a man who not
only had a varied and most interesting past, but who was
destined to have an important future. This was Abbot
Kinney, a blood relation of Emerson, Holmes and old General
Harrison, and a student of law and medicine, commission mer-
chant, a botanical expert, cigarette manufacturer and member
of the United States Geological Survey; a man, too, who had
traveled through, and lived long in Europe, Asia and Africa;
and who, after seeing most of our own Northwest, was on his
way to settle in Florida in search of health. While in San
Francisco he heard of the recently-formed Sierra Madre
Colony, whither he made haste to go; and after a month or
two there, he liked it so well that he decided to remain on the
gentle slope, found there a home and lay out a farm. At that
time we had a customer by the name of Seabury, who owned
one hundred and sixty acres along the foothills ; and this land
he had mortgaged to us to secure a note. When Kinney came,
he bought a place adjoining Seabury's, and this led him to
take over the mortgage. In due season, he foreclosed and
added the land to his beautiful property, which he named
Kinneloa.
All Kinney's combined experience was brought to bear to
make his estate pleasurable, not only to himself but for the
casual visitor and passer-by; and in a short time he became
well known. He also was made a Special Commissioner of the
United States to examine into the condition of the Mission
Indians of Southern California; and on this commission he
520 Sixty Years in Southern California [1877-
served with Helen Hunt Jackson, so famous as H. H. or, espe-
cially in California, as the author of Ramona, visiting with
her all the well-known Indian rancherias between San Diego
and Monterey, in addition to the twenty-one Franciscan
Missions.
Toward the end of April, F. P. F. Temple passed away at
the Merced Ranch and was buried in the family burying-ground
at La Puente. This recalls to mind that, in early days, many
families owned a hallowed acre where, as summoned one by
one, they were laid side by side in rest eternal.
On May i6th, John W. Bixby died, at his Long Beach
estate. About 1871 he had entered his brother Jotham's
service, supervising the sheep ranch; and to John Bixby's
foresight was attributed, first the renting and later the pur-
chase of the great ranch controlled, through foreclosure of
mortgage, by Michael Reese. A year or two before Bixby's
death, five thousand acres were set aside for the town of Los
Alamitos, but John never saw the realization of his dream to
establish there a settlement.
It was on the eighteenth of the same month that my brother
found it necessary to visit Carlsbad for the benefit of his
health, and the decision occasioned my removal to San Fran-
cisco to look after his affairs. What was expected to be a
brief absence really lasted until September, 1882, when he and
his family returned to America and San Francisco, and I
came back to Los Angeles, with which, of course, I had con-
tinued in close communication. During our absence, my wife's
father, Joseph Newmark, died rather suddenly on October
19th, 1881.
Reference has been made to the movement, in 1859, for the
division of California into two states. In the spring of 1880,
John G. Downey republished the original act and argued that
it was still valid; and Dr. J. P. Widney contended that the
geographical, topograhical, climatic and commercial laws were
all working for the separation of California into two distinct
civil organizations. Not long after, at a mass-meeting in
Los Angeles called to forward the improvement of Wilmington
Antonio Franco and Mariana Coronel
From an oil painting in the Coronel Collection
Fourth Street, Looking West from Main
TJTTims Landing
From a print of the late fifties
Santa Catalina, in the Middle Eighties
i88o] The Revival of the Southland 521
harbor, an Executive Committee consisting of J. G. Downey,
W. H. Perry, E. F. Spence, Dr. J. P. Widney, A. B. Moffitt and
J. G. Estudillo was named to see what could be done; and this
Committee appointed a Legal Committee, consisting of Henry
T. Hazard, R. M. Widney, George H. Smith, C. E. Thom, A.
Brunson, S. C. Hubbell and H. A. Barclay. The latter Com-
mittee endorsed Downey's view that Congress could admit
the new State ; and it arranged for a convention which met on
September 8th, 1881. There the gist of the sentiment was that
State division was a necessity, but that the time was not yet
ripe!
In 1880, Jotham Bixby & Company sold four thousand
acres of their celebrated Cerritos Ranch to an organization
known as the American Colony, and in a short time Willmore
City, named after W. E. Willmore and the origin of Long
Beach, was laid out and widely advertised. Willmore, a
teacher, had been fairly successful as a colonizer in Fresno
County ; but after all his dreaming, hard work and investments,
he lost all that he had, like so many others, and died broken-
hearted. The earliest recollection I have of a storekeeper at
Long Beach was my customer, W. W. Lowe.
At an early period in the development of Santa Monica, as
we have seen, Senator Jones built a wharf there; but the Los
Angeles & Independence Railroad, expected to become the
outlet on the Pacific Coast of a supposedly great mining
district in Inyo County, never reached farther east than Los
Angeles. The Southern Pacific Railroad Company, desiring
to remove this competition, obtained possession of the new
road, razed the warehouse and condemned and half dis-
mantled the wharf; and by setting up its terminus at Wilming-
ton, it transferred there the greater part of its shipping and
trade. By 1880, Santa Monica, to-day so prosperous, had
shrunk to but three hundred and fifty inhabitants.
Competition compelled us, in 1880, to put traveling sales-
men into the field — an innovation we introduced with reluc-
tance, involving as it did no little additional expense.
Near the end of August, a Citizens' Committee was ap-
522 Sixty Years in Southern California [1877-
pointed to receive and entertain President Rutherford B. Hayes,
whose visit to Los Angeles, as the first President to come here,
caused quite a stir. His stay was very brief. During the
few hours that he was here, he and his party were driven around
the neighborhood in open hacks.
In the midst of his successive Greenback campaigns,
General Ben. F. Butler sojourned for a few daj'^s, in 1880, in
Los Angeles and was the recipient of many attentions.
At the beginning of this decade, the Los Angeles & San
Pedro Railway was extended to Timms' Landing, the well-
known old shipping point ; and San Pedro then began to grow
in earnest, both on the bluff and in the lowlands bordering
on the bay. Wharves were projected; and large vessels, such
as would have startled the earlier shippers, yet none too
large at that, made fast to their moorings. But the improve-
ment of yesterday must make way for that of to-day, and even
now the Harbor Commissioners are razing historic Timms'
Point. Penning again this familiar cognomen, I am reminded
of what, I dare say, has been generally forgotten, that the Bay
of Avalon was also once called Timms' Landing or Cove —
after A. W. Timms, under-officer in the United States Navy
■ — and that the name was changed prior to the Bannings'
purchase of Catalina.
Frequent reference has been made to those who, in one
way or another, sought to infuse new commercial life here and
more rapidly to expand the city; but, after all, George Lehman,
of whom I have already spoken, was perhaps the pioneer
local boomer before that picturesque word had become incor-
porated in the Angeleno's vocabulary. Nor were his pecu-
liarities in this direction entirely confined to booming, for he
did considerable buying as well. Lehman's operations, how-
ever, most unfortunately for himself, were conducted at too
early a period, and his optimism, together with his extensive,
unimproved holdings, wrought his downfall. Besides the Round
House and gardens, he owned real estate which would now
represent enormous value, in proof of which I have only to
mention a few of his possessions at that time: the southwest
i88oi The Revival of the Southland 523
comer of Sixth and Spring streets; the northeast comer of
Sixth and Hill streets ; large frontages and many other corners
on Main, Spring, Fort and Hill streets. Practically none of
this property brought any incomej so that when the City began
to grade and improve the streets, Lehman's assessments
compelled him to give a fifteen thousand dollar blanket
mortgage to Lazard Freres of San Francisco.
Lehman soon found himself beyond his depth and de-
faulted in the payment of both principal and interest. Not
only that, but with a complacency and a confidence in the
future that were sublime, he refused to sell a single foot of
land, and Lazard Freres with a worthy desire, natural to
bankers, to turn a piece of paper into something more nego-
tiable, foreclosed the mortgage, in 1879, and shut the gates of
the Garden of Paradise forever; and a sheriff's sale was ad-
vertised for the purpose of concluding this piece of financial
legerdemain. I attended the sale, and still distinctly remem-
ber with much amusement some of the incidents.
The vociferous auctioneer mounted the box or barrel
provided for him and opened the program by requesting an
offer for the corner of Hill and Second streets, a lot one hundred
and twenty by one hundred and sixty feet in size. Nor did
he request in vain.
One of the heroes of the occasion was Louis Mesmer, a
friend of Lehman, whose desire it was to take a talking part in
the proceedings, force up the prices and so help the latter.
Amidst the familiar, "Going, going, going!" accordingly, the
bidding began and, under the incentive of Mesmer's bullish
activities, the figures soon reached four hundred dollars, the last
bidder being Eugene Meyer, local agent for the mortgagee. At
this juncture Mesmer, in his enthusiasm, doubled the bid to
eight hundred dollars, expecting, of course, to induce someone
to raise the price, already high for that day, still higher.
But "the best-laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft a-gley."
How eagerly Mesmer awaited the fruition of his shrewd manipu-
lation ! how he listened in hopeful anticipation to the repeated,
"Going, going, going!" of the auctioneer! In vain, however.
524 Sixty Years in Southern California [1877-1880]
he waited, in vain he listened. To his mortification and em-
barrassment, his astounded ear was greeted with the decisive,
"Gone! — for eight hundred dollars! Sold to Louis Mesmer!"
Mesmer had bought, for more than it was worth, a piece of
property which he did not want, a catastrophe realized as well
by all the others present as it was patent to the victim himself.
The crowd rehshed keenly the ludicrous situation in which
Mesmer found himself, encumbered as he was with an invest-
ment which he had had no intention of making ; and through-
out the remainder of the contest he was distinguished only by
his silence.
Poor old George ! His vision was accurate : Los Angeles was
to become great, but her splendid expansion was delayed too
long for him to realize his dreams. When Lehman died, he
was buried in a pauper's grave; and toward the end of the
eighties, the adobe Round House, once such a feature of
George Lehman's Garden of Paradise, was razed to make way
for needed improvements.
I have spoken of the intolerable condition of the atmosphere
in the Council Chamber when Charles Crocker made his
memorable visit to Los Angeles to consult with the City Fathers.
In the eighties, when the Common Council met in the south-
east corner of the second floor of Temple Block, the same
objectionable use of tobacco prevailed, with the result that
the worthy Aldermen could scarcely be distinguished twenty-
five feet away from the rough benches on which sat the equally
beclouded spectators.
Doubtless the atmosphere of the court room was just as
foul when the Mayor, as late at least as 1880, passed judgment
each morning, sitting as a Justice, on the crop of disorderlies of
the preceding night. Then not infrequently some neighbor
or associate of the Mayor himself, caught in the police drag-
net, appeared among the drowsy defendants!
CHAPTER XXXVI
CENTENARY OF THE CITY — ELECTRIC LIGHT
I881-1884
THE year 1881 opened with what, for Los Angeles, was a
curious natural phenomenon — -snow falling in February
and covering the streets and plains with a white mantle.
So rare was the novelty that many residents then saw the
oddly-shaped flakes for the first time. It was about that time,
according to my recollection, that another attempt was made
to advertise Los Angeles through her far-famed climate, an
effort which had a very amusing termination. Prominent
men of our city invited the California Editorial Association,
of which Frank Pixley of the Argonaut was President, to meet
in Los Angeles that year, with the far-sighted intention of
having them give wider publicity to the charms and fame of
our winters. During this convention, a banquet was held in
the dining-room of the St. Elmo Hotel, then perhaps called
the Cosmopolitan. After a fine repast and a flow of brilliant
eloquence, principally devoted to extolling our climatic won-
ders, the participants dispersed. But what was the surprised
embarrassment of the Los Angeles boomers, on making their
exit, to find pieces of ice hanging from all points of vantage and
an intense cold permeating and stiffening their bones. Thus
ended, amid the few icicles Los Angeles has ever known, the
first official attempt to extend the celebrity of oiir glorious
and seductive climate.
In February, Nathaniel C. Carter, to whom I have referred
as a pioneer in arranging railroad excursions for tourists coming
525
526 Sixty Years in Southern California [iSSi-
to California, bought from E. J. Baldwin some eleven hundred
^acres of the Santa Anita Ranch, comprising the northern and
wilder portion which sloped down from the base of the Sierra
Madre Mountains. This he subdivided, piping water from
the hills ; and by wide advertising he established Sierra Madre,
appropriating the name already selected by a neighboring
colony.
In 1881, J. M. Guinn, who for a decade or more had been
Principal of the schools at Anaheim, was made Superintendent
of Los Angeles City Schools.
A tragedy attracted unusual attention in the early eighties,
owing, in part, to the social connections of the persons involved.
Francisco, or Chico Forster, as he was popularly called, the
sporting son of Don Juan Forster, had been keeping company
with a Sehorita Abarta, a young woman of superb stature,
whose father was French and mother was Mexican ; and having
promised to marry her, he betrayed her confidence. Her insist-
ence that Forster should keep his word had its denouement
when, one day, at her behest, they visited the Plaza church;
but Forster so far endeavored to postpone the ceremony that
he returned to the carriage, in which he had left her, de-
claring that no priest could be found. Then they drove around
until they reached the corner of Commercial and Los Angeles
streets, half a block from H. Newmark & Company's. There
the young woman left the carriage, followed by Forster; and
on reaching the sidewalk, she said to him in Spanish,
" i Chico, que vas hacer?" ("What are you going to do?")
Forster gave some evasive answer, and Senorita Abarta shot
him dead. She was arrested and tried ; but owing to the expert
evidence in her behalf given by Dr. Joseph Kurtz she was ex-
onerated, to the satisfaction of nearly the entire community.
Among those who followed the proceedings closely with a view
to publishing the dramatic story was George Butler Griflfin,
traveler and journalist, who, having recently arrived, had joined
the staff of the Express, later becoming somewhat noted as a
student of local history.
At a meeting in Turnverein Hall, on March 24th, the
i884] Centenary of the City — Electric Light 527
German Ladies' Benevolent Society of Los Angeles, so long
known for its commendable work, was organized. Mrs. John
Milner was elected President; Mrs. D. Mahlstedt, Vice-Presi-
dent; Mrs. John Benner, Secretary; and Mrs. Jacob Kuhrts,
Treasurer.
Savarie J., alias Professor Brewster, was a simple-minded
freak of the freakish eighties, who dropped into Los Angeles
— as such characters generally do — without anyone knowing
much about his origin. It was during the time that walking
matches were much in vogue, and whenever one of these took
place, Savarie J. was sure to participate. He was the only
man in town that took Savarie J. seriously, and I assume that
he was generally entered rather to attract spectators than for
any other purpose. One day the Professor disappeared and
no clue to his whereabouts could be discovered until his dead
body was found far out on the desert. He had walked once
too often and too far !
Fabian was a Frenchman and a jack-at-aU-trades doing
odd jobs around town, whose temperament and out-spoken
way of expressing himself used to produce both amusement
and surprise. On one occasion, when he took offense at the
daughter of a prominent family for whom he was working, he
sought out the lady of the house and said to her: "Madam,
your sons are all right, but your daughters are no good!"
Two other names not forgotten by householders of an
earlier day in Los Angeles are John Hall and Henry Buddin.
The former, whose complexion was as black as his soul was
white, came to Los Angeles a great many years ago. He was
a whitewasher by trade and followed this calling for a liveli-
hood, later giving it up to run an express wagon; and I can
still see John plying about town and driving in summer
between Los Angeles and Santa Monica, his wagon piled high
with household effects, as our good citizens moved from one
dwelling to another or went on their way to the shore of the
sea. I remember, also, that one day some unnatural parent
left a newborn, white infant on John Hall's steps. He was
never able to locate the mother of the little fellow, and there-
528 Sixty Years in Southern California [issi-
fore took the foundling into his home and raised him as his
son. Moses was the name John very appropriately bestowed
upon the baby; and the white lad grew into manhood in the
midst of this negro family. Like Fabian, Buddin proved
himself handy in doing odd jobs of carpentering and uphol-
stering, and was in frequent demand.
On September 5th, at the conclusion of the City's first
century, or, more strictly speaking, one hundred years and a
day after the founding of Los Angeles, a noteworthy cele-
bration was undertaken. A population of about twelve
thousand was all that Los Angeles then boasted ; but visitors
added greatly to the crowd, and the town took on a true holiday
appearance. Main Street was decorated with an arch, bearing
the inclusive figures, iy8i-i88i ; and the variegated procession,
under the grand marshalship of General George Stoneman, was
made up of such vehicles, costumed passengers and riders as
suggested at once the motley but interesting character of our
city's past. There were old, creaking car r etas that had seen
service in pioneer days; there were richly-decorated saddles,
on which rode gay and expert horsemen; and there were also
the more up-to-date and fashionable carriages which, with the
advent of transcontinental railroading, had at last reached
the Coast. Two Mexican Indian women — one named Ben-
jamina — alternately scowling and smiling, and declared to be,
respectively, one hundred and three and one hundred and
fourteen years old, formed a feature of the procession. Clouds
of dust, from the crowding auditors, greeted the orators of the
day, who spoke not only in English and Spanish, but also in
French ; there were festal games and sports characteristic of the
olden time; and the celebration concluded with a Spanish
baile, at which dancing was continued until the following
morning.
One of the musical celebrities of her time, and a native
of Los Angeles of whom the city was justly proud, was Miss
Mamie Perry, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William H. Perry.
In 1880, she went to Italy and studied under Sangiovanni and
in September, 1881, made her debut, singing in Milan, Florence,
1884] Centenary of the City — Electric Light 529
Mantua and Bologna the title role of Petrella's opera, Contessa
d'Amalfi. In other cities, she attained further distinction. A
musical career was interrupted by her marriage, in 1883, to
Charles W. Davis; but, after his untimely death in 1889, Mrs.
Perry-Davis returned to Italy, a notable miisicale in Turnve-
rein Hall being given, as a farewell honor, on April 22d. Still
later, she returned to Los Angeles and married C. Modini
Wood.
When the funeral of President Garfield took place at
Washington, on September 27th, his memory was also honored
in Los Angeles. A procession started at two o'clock from
Spring Street and marched to the Plaza, Colonel John
0. Wheeler acting as Grand Marshal and George E. Card,
Chief of Police, leading the way. A catafalque, draped with
black, star-bedecked silk and green smilax, and surmounted by a
shrouded eagle and a little child — Laura Chauvin, daughter
of A. C. Chauvin, the grocer — kneeling and representing
Columbia lamenting the loss of the martyred chief, was drawn
by six horses, followed by the honorary pallbearers and by
civic and official bodies. Judge Volney E. Howard, as Presi-
dent, introduced Dr. J. P. Widney, who read the resolutions
of condolence, after which A. Brunson delivered the eulogy.
Mrs. Garfield, the President's widow, who first came to winter
in California in 1899, finally built her own winter home in
Pasadena, in October, 1904.
S. A. and M. A. Hamburger, who were engaged in business
in Sacramento, concluded they would do better if they secured
the right opening in the Southland ; and having persuaded their
father, Asher Hamburger, to join them in the new enterprise,
they came to Los Angeles in November, 1881, and established
their present business, under the firm name of A. Ham-
burger & Sons. D. A. Hamburger, who had been reading law,
joined them in January, 1883. For years, until his death on
December 2d, 1897, the elder Hamburger participated actively
in all the affairs of the concern. They first opened on Main
Street near Requena — close to the popular dry-goods store
of Dillon & Kenealy, conducted by Richard Dillon & John
34
530 Sixty Years in Southern California [issi-
Kenealy — what was known as the People's Store, occupying
a one-story building with a room containing not more than
twenty-five hundred square feet; but having outgrown this
location, they moved to the Bumiller Block. Again obliged to
seek more room, the Phillips Block, at the corner of Spring and
Franklin streets, was built for their use on the site of the old
City and County Building and the Jail. In 1908, the Ham-
burgers moved to their extensive building on Broadway and
Eighth Street.
Owen Brown, son of the famous John Brown of Ossawatomie,
and long the only survivor of the little party that seized the
arsenal at Harpers Ferry, came West late in 1881 and settled
with his brother Jason, already at Pasadena. A horseback
trail up one of the neighboring mountains still leads the traveler
to speak in friendly spirit of this late pioneer, who died in 1889
and is buried near the foothills. Five years later, Jason Brown
returned to Ohio.
The Daily Times, a Republican sheet started by Nathan
Cole and James Gardiner, began on December 4th to be issued
six days in the week. Both publishers within a month were
succeeded by Yarnell, Caystile & Mathes, owners of the Mirror.
So successful was the paper that it soon grew to be a nine-
column folio.
In the height of the Winter season of 1881-82, when the
semi-tropical glory of Southern California was most appealing,
Helen Hunt Jackson, exploring the Southwest for materials
of value in the study of the Indian, came to Los Angeles and
met, as I have already related. Abbot Kinney, himself a stu-
dent of the aborigines. She also met Don Antonio F. and Dona
Mariana Coronel; and finding in the latter a highly intelligent
and affable lady, she passed some hours each day at the hos-
pitable Coronel mansion, driving out there from her hotel and
reclining under the broad palm trees. When Mrs. Jackson first
came, with her pencils and note-books, the retiring Sefiora (as
she used to tell me) , having little comprehension of the Eastern
lady's ambitious plans, looked with some suspicion on the
motives of her enthusiastic visitor; but fortunately this half-
Main Street, Looking North from Sixth, Probably in the Late Seventies
High School, on Pound Cake Hill, about 1873
First Street, Looking East from Hill
Temple Court House, after Abaudonment by the County
i884i Centenary of the City — Electric Light 531
distrust was dispelled by the warmth of the author's geniality,
and Dona Mariana, opening both her house and heart, contrib-
uted inestimably to the success of the now famous Ramona,
most of the rough notes for which were written at a little table
on the Coronel veranda. On Dona Mariana's advice, Mrs.
Jackson selected the Del Valle ranchhouse at the Camulos,
as the best-preserved and most typical place for a background ;
although, disappointed in not finding the Del Valles at home,
and consequently seeing the imagined headquarters of Ramona
for but an hour or two, she was compelled to rely upon her Los
Angeles hostess for many of the interesting and singularly
accurate details. On departing from Southern California, Mrs.
Jackson wrote for the Century Magazine a charming descrip-
tion of life at the old Coronel adobe, whence she never departed
without a carriageful of luscious fruit. She also added her
tribute to the attractions of the San Gabriel and San Fernando
valleys. Now the world at large has been made more con-
versant with the poetical past of Los Angeles for the most part
through the novel Ramona.
In 1882, the telephone was first introduced here, H. New-
mark & Company so early subscribing for the service that
they were given 'phone No. 5, the old River Station having
No. I. But it may amuse the reader to know that this patron-
age was not pledged without some misgivings lest the cus-
tomary noises around the store might interfere with hearing,
and so render the curious instrument useless !
On January 20th, Don Juan Forster died at his Santa
Margarita rancho, in San Diego County; followed to the
grave but a few months later by Mrs. Forster, a sister of
Pio Pico.
As rugged as the climate of his native State of Maine, A. T.
Currier, after the usual hazardous life of the pioneer on the
plains and in mines, proved his good judgment when, in the late
sixties, after riding through California in search of the best
place to found a home, he selected a ranch close to that of Louis
Phillips. For years, I had pleasant relations with Currier; and
I must confess that it was not easy to decide, in 1882, when
532 Sixty Years in Southern California dssr-
two such friends as he and Billy Rowland were the oppos-
ing candidates, how I should vote for SherifiE. Currier was
elected.
The Arroyo Vista — later and more correctly named the Vista
del Arroyo — kept by Mrs. Emma C. Bangs, was the only
hotel in the Pasadena settlement in 1882, and not infre-
quently passengers who journeyed there by the narrow, stuffy
stage, running every day except Sunday, found on arriving
that they could not be accommodated. So small, in fact,
was the hostelry that it became necessary to advertise when all
the rooms had been taken. The stage left for Los Angeles at
nine o'clock in the morning and returned at three; and the
driver, who was a student of the classics from the East,
doled out to the passengers both crossroad data and bits of
ancient lore.
Fire having destroyed the State Normal School at San
Jose, in 1880, then the only institution of its kind in California,
the Legislature, on March 14th, 1881, provided for the establish-
ing here of a branch; and the following March George Gep-
hard, a German who had come in 1875, raised eight thousand
dollars to purchase the orange grove at Bellevue Terrace, near
Fifth Street and Charity, for a site. On August 29th, 1882,
the school was opened with Charles H. Allen of San Fran-
cisco as first Principal, two other teachers and sixty-one
students. In 1883, Allen was succeeded by President Ira
More and the school became an independent institution.
Edward T. Pierce, who followed Professor More, retired in
1904. An instructor there for twenty-two years was Pro-
fessor Melville Dozier, who made for California, by way of
Panama, in 1868. Largely through the devotion of these
pioneer teachers, as well as through those qualities which have
marked the administration of Dr. Jesse F. Millspaugh, scholar
and pedagogue, for nearly the last decade, this Normal School
has grown, each year, from a very humble beginning until
now it sends out hundreds of men and women into one of the
noblest of all professions.
A commencement of the Los Angeles High School of par-
i884i Centenary of the City — Electric Light 533
ticular interest to me was celebrated in June in the old
Turnverein Hall, on Spring Street — Superintendent James
M. Guinn presenting the diplomas — when my daughter Ella
graduated. Among her instructors had been Mrs. Chloe P.
Jones, for three years Principal of the school and for one year
Superintendent (having been the last incumbent, at the same
time, of both offices), and the late Mrs. Anna Averill, a noted
club woman. Mrs. Jones came to California from Ohio in
1873, taught for a while in Santa Rosa and, after a year of grade
work here, began to instruct in the new high school ; and there,
after a service of nearly four decades, she is still a highly es-
teemed member of the staff. Mrs. Averill was the first woman
to enter the Board of Education; and in her honor a bell was
placed on the Mission Road, El Camino Real, to celebrate her
seventieth birthday.
Colonel Harrison Gray Otis, who had been a farmer's boy,
printer. Union soldier, foreman of the Government printing
office, newspaper correspondent and editor, and had first visited
Los Angeles late in 1874 or 1875 to familiarize himself with
local conditions, on August ist, 1882 joined the firm of Yamell,
Caystile & Mathes, thereupon assuming the management
of both the Times and the weekly Mirror. In October, 1883,
Yarnell and Mathes retired. A year later, the Times-Mirror
Company was incorporated with a capital stock of forty
thousand dollars.
Notwithstanding the failure of the Evening Republican, in
1878-79, Nathan Cole, Jr. started another afternoon daily,
the Evening Telegram, on August 19th. It was very neatly
printed; was delivered by carrier at sixty-five cents a month;
and was a pioneer here in inserting free advertisements for
those desiring situations.
In the spring of 1882, my attention had been called to the
public need of proper facilities for obtaining a drink of good
water; and no one else having moved in the matter, the follow-
ing communication was sent, during the heated summer, to the
City authorities :
534 Sixty Years in Southern California ussi-
Los Angeles,
August 25, 1882.
To the Honorable,
The Council of Los Angeles City:
Gentlemen: —
The undersigned hereby tender to the city a drinking
fountain, as per the accompanying cut, to be placed on that
portion of Temple Block fronting the junction of Main and
Spring streets, for the free use of the public, and subject to the
approval of your honorable body.
Respectfully,
H. Newmark & Co.
About the same time Stephen H. Mott, Secretary of the
Los Angeles City Water Company, promised enough drinking
water, free of charge, to supply the fountain.
The unpretentious gift having been accepted, the fountain
was installed. The design included an iron pedestal and
column, surmounted by a female figure of attractive propor-
tions; while below, the water issued from the mouth of a lion's
head. Though but seven feet in height and not to be
compared with more ambitious designs seen here later, the
fountain may have given some incentive to city service and
adornment.
It has been shown that Remi Nadeau bought the southwest
comer of Spring 'and First streets at what I then considered
a ridiculously high price. On that site, in 1882, he com-
menced building the Hotel Nadeau — the first four-story struc-
ture in town. This fact is not likely to escape my memory,
since he acquired the necessary funds out of the profit he
made in a barley speculation involving the sale, by H.
Newmark & Company, of some eighty thousand bags of
this cereal ; his gain representing our loss. It thus happened
that I participated in the opening festivities (which began
with a banquet and ended with a ball) to a greater extent
than, I dare say, the average guest ever suspected. For
i884] Centenary of the City — Electric Light 535
many years thereafter, the Nadeau, now comparatively so
deserted, was the center of social and business life in Los
Angeles.
On October nth occurred the death of Don Manuel Domin-
guez, his wife surviving him but a few months.
In 1882, F. H. Howland, representing the Brush Electric
Lighting Company, made an energetic canvass in Los Angeles
for the introduction of the electric light ; and by the end of the
third week in August, forty or more arc lamps had been ordered
by business houses and private individuals. He soon proposed
to light the city by seven towers or spliced masts — each
about one hundred and fifty feet high — to be erected within an
area bounded by the Plaza, Seventh, Charity and Main streets,
and supplied from a power-house at the corner of Banning
and Alameda streets. The seven masts were to cost seven
thousand dollars a year, or somewhat more than was then being
paid for gas. This proposition was accepted by the Council,
popular opinion being that it was ' ' the best advertisement that
Los Angeles could have;" and when Howland, a week later,
offered to add three or four masts, there was considerable
satisfaction that Los Angeles was to be brought into the line
of progress. On the evening of December 31st, the city was
first lighted by electricity when Mayor Toberman touched the
button that turned on the mysterious current. Howland was
opposed by the gas company and by many who advanced the
most ridiculous objections: electric light, it was claimed, at-
tracted bugs, contributed to blindness and had a bad effect
on — ladies' complexions!
In 1883, Herman Flatau came to Los Angeles from Berlin
and soon entered the employ of H. Newmark & Company.
His first duty was to bale hides ; in a year, he was a porter in the
grocery department; and by another year he had advanced
to a place in the billing-ofifice. Since then, he has risen step by
step until he is now a stockholder in M. A. Newmark & Com-
pany and is taken into the most confidential and important
councils of that firm. On the nineteenth of February, 1888,
Flatau married Miss Fanny Bernstein, a lady distinguished as
536 Sixty Years in Southern California ussi-
the first girl graduate of a Los Angeles high school to enter the
State University, receiving therefrom the Ph.B. degree.
Dr. Elizabeth A. Follansbee registered in Los Angeles in
February, 1883, and as one of the earliest women physicians
here soon secured an enviable position in the professional
world, being called to the chair for diseases of children
in the College of Medicine of the University of Southern
California.
J. W. Robinson in 1833 established a small dry goods shop
at the corner of Temple and Spring streets, which he named
the Boston Dry Goods Store.' A couple of years later he
moved into the Jones Block opposite the Court House, the
growth of his business having warranted such a change. In
1895 the block next to Blanchard Hall was built by this firm,
and this he has occupied ever since. In March, 1896, the
present manager, J. M. Schneider, became associated with the
Boston Dry Goods Co., which was incorporated in 1891 . N. B.
Blackstone, a kinsman of Robinson, once in business with him,
in time withdrew and set up for himself, under his own name,
on Broadway.
One of the most shocking railroad accidents in the history
of California blotted the calendar for January 20th, when
over twenty persons were killed and sudden grief was brought
to several happy Los Angeles circles. About three o'clock
on a cold wintry night, an express train, bound south, stopped
at the Tehachepi Station, near the summit; and while the
engineer and fireman on the detached locomotive and tender
were busy loading water and fuel, and the conductor was in
the office making his report, the brakeman, with what proved
to be uncalculating gallantry, was hastening to escort a young
lady from the car to the railway station. In his hurry, he had
forgotten to apply the brakes; and before he could return, the
entire train, started by a heavy gale, had begun to move away
' May 1st, 1914, the J. W. Robinson Dry Goods Co. contracted to move to
Seventh Street between Grand Avenue and Hope Street. This is one of the nota-
ble examples of leapfrog that real estate operators have played in Los Angeles,
to the detriment perhaps, at times, of the town itself.
i884] Centenary of the City — Electric Light 537
— at the outset slowly, then dashing, with ever-increasing
momentum, down the heavy mountain grade !
The conductor, upon leaving the depot, was the first to
discover that the cars had started away ; the disappearing lights
having become so faint as to be scarcely visible. The pas-
sengers, too, had noticed nothing unusual until too late ; when
the train, plunging along at fearful velocity, leaped the track
and fell in a heap to the ravine below. The old-fashioned
lamps and stoves set fire to the debris; with the result that
those who were not crushed were burned. The dead and
wounded were brought to Los Angeles as quickly as possible ;
but the remains of some were never identified. Governor
Downey, who was on the train, was rescued, though for years
he suffered from the nervous shock ; but among those lost was
his charmimg wife.
Marshall & Henderson established themselves, in 1883, in
the wholesale iron and wagon-supply trade; whereupon we
sold that branch of our business to them. Shortly after, we
vacated the storerooms in the Arcadia Block, which we had
continuously occupied since the establishing of H. Newmark
& Company in 1865, and moved to the two-story Amestoy
Building on Los Angeles Street, north of Requena, but a few
paces from the comer on which I had first clerked for my
brother.
At a meeting in the office of the Los Angeles Produce
Exchange, in the Arcadia Block on Los Angeles Stre'et on
March 9th, presided over by C. W. Gibson when J. Mills
Davies acted as Secretary, the Board of Trade of Los Angeles
was organized, M. Dodsworth, C. W. Gibson, A. Haas, J. M.
Davies, Eugene Germain, J. J. Melius, John R. Mathews,
Walter S. Maxwell, L N. Van Nuys and myself being the
incorporators. Six directors — Gibson, Van Nuys, Haas, Dods-
worth, Mathews and Newmark — were chosen. On March
14th, 1883, the Board was formally incorporated for fifty years.
After a while the Board met in the Baker Block, and still later
it assembled in a two-story brick structure at the northwest
comer of Fort and First streets. In October, 1906, the Board
538 Sixty Years in Southern California ussi-
of Trade and the Wholesalers' Board of Trade were consoli-
dated, the new organization becoming known as the Whole-
salers' Board of Trade. This move was initiated by Herman
Flatau.
The republication, in the Los Angeles Express of March 23d,
1908, under the caption, "Twenty -five Years Ago To-day,"
of several paragraphs, savoring of village gossip such as the
following —
Some very fine nugas [nougats?] are to be seen at Dol's
Commercial Restaurant. They are meant for the silver-
wedding feast at Mr. Newmark's —
calls to mind an event of March 21st, when my wife and I
celebrated our silver wedding at our home on Fort Street. At
half -past six in the evening, all of my employees sat down at
dinner with us, having come in a body to tender their con-
gratulations. A reunion of three generations of the Newmarks,
some of whom then saw one another for the first time, came
to a close a week or two later.
As the anniversary approached, I prepared a surprise for
my wife, arranging that her brother, Abraham Newmark of
St. Louis, should be present in Los Angeles for the occasion.
His visit, however, had a grievous termination: while in
San Francisco on his way home from Los Angeles, death
came to him suddenly in the home of a friend.
In May, the Los Angeles Board of Education sold the
northwest corner of Spring and Second streets — a lot one
hundred and twenty by one hundred and sixty-five feet, where
the City, in 1854, had built the first schoolhouse — to the city
authorities for thirty-one thousand dollars; and the next year
the Council erected on the inside sixty feet the first muni-
cipal building of consequence. When the Boom was at its
height in 1887, the City sold the balance of the lot with its
frontage on Spring Street and a depth of one hundred and five
feet for one hundred and twenty thousand dollars, to John
Bryson, Sr., an arrival of 1879 and ten years later Mayor
i884] Centenary of the City — Electric Light 539
of Los Angeles; and George H. Bonebrake (who came a year
earlier than Bryson, and was in his day a prominent financier)
opened, if my memory serves me correctly, the first agency for
Eastern vehicles. Together, they built the Br}'-son Block.
This sale and purchase reminds me that when the lot was
cleared to make way for the new City Hall, ten or twelve fine
black locust trees were felled, much to the regret of many old-
timers. These were the same shade trees for the preservation
of which Billy McKee, the early schoolmaster, had risked
bodily encounter with the irate waterman.
When the Board of Education sold this lot, it bought
another, which extended from Fort Street to Spring between
Fifth and Sixth streets and had a frontage of one hundred
and twenty feet on each street. The price paid was twelve
thousand five hundred dollars. This is the lot now known
as Mercantile Place, whose retention or sale has been so much
debated and which, with its many small stores, reminds the
traveler not a little of those narrow but cosy, and often very
prosperous, European streets and alleys on both sides lined
with famous shops.
August 22d was the date of the City ordinance creating
Elysian Park, the act leading the early settler back to pueblo
days when the land in question passed from Mexican to Ameri-
can control and remained a part of the City lots, already
described, and never subdivided and sold.
The last companies of volunteer firemen were organized
in 1883, one being in the Morris Vineyard, a district between
what is now Alain, Hill, Fifteenth and Sixteenth streets, and the
other in East Los Angeles, where a hose company was formed.
During September or October, a party of distinguished
German bankers and statesmen, who had come to the United
States to investigate certain branches of business, visited Los
Angeles. The most important of this commission was Dr.
Edward Lasker of the German Reichstag, other eminent
members being Henry Villard, President of the Northern Pacific
Railroad, and Judge Siemens, President of the German Bank of
Berlin. A committee, consisting of L W. Hellman, C. C. Lips,
540 Sixty Years in Southern California [issi-
M. Morris, A. W. Edelman, Conrad Jacoby, Dr. Joseph Kurtz
and myself took charge of these gentlemen, as well as a number
of others, whose names I forget. Dr. Lasker, during his brief
stay, accepted the hospitality of my home, and there received
considerable honor at the hands of his German admirers, a large
body of enthusiasts serenading him. Even while with us, it
was evident that Dr. Lasker was an ailing man; and on the
fifth of the following January, while riding in a carriage in
Galveston, he suddenly died.
General George H. Stoneman, when he retired from the
army in 1871, settled near San Gabriel; and continuing more or
less in public Hfe, he was elected in 1883 Governor of Cali-
fornia.
In December, 1883, Eugene Meyer sold out to Nathan
Cahn and Leon Loeb, his partners in the City of Paris store,
and engaged in banking with Lazard Fr^res, in San Francisco,
in which enterprise he continued until 1892, when he moved to
New York and became one of the managing partners of the
same institution in that city, retiring from active business
nearly a decade later.
When Meyer left, he sold his home on Fort Street, which had
originally cost him six thousand, to Moses L. Wicks for sixteen
thousand dollars ; and his friends told him that so successful a
sale proved the Meyer luck. Wicks in time resold it to John
D. Bicknell, whose heirs still own it.
With the coming at Christmas in 1883 of Robert N. Bulla,
began a career that has made itself felt in local legal, political,
commercial, social and scientific circles. In 1884, he joined
the law firm of Bicknell & White; nine years later, he was
representing his district in the State Assembly; in 1897, he was
a State Senator; and his efficient activity as a director of the
Chamber of Commerce, together with his forensic talent, lead
one to anticipate his rise to further distinction in that body.
As a director of the Southwest Museum, Bulla performs
another of his services to the community.
After an unsuccessful canvass made by Judge Noah Lever-
ing, which resulted in the attendance of just four persons, the
i884] Centenary of the City — Electric Light 541
Historical Society of Southern California was finally organized
at meetings in Temple Block, in November and December, 1 883.
J. J. Warner was the first President; H. D. Barrows, A. F.
Coronel, J. G. Downey and John Mansfield, the Vice-Presidents;
J. M. Guinn, Treasurer; and C. N. Wilson, Secretary. For a
time, the Society's meetings were held in the City Council
room, after that in the County Court room ; and later at the
houses of the members. On February 12th,' 1891, the Society
was incorporated.
Le Progrh, a seven-column paper, was started here, in
1883, as the organ of the French population, some rather prom-
inent citizens of Gallic origin becoming the stockholders.
Dr. Pigne du Puytren was the first editor, and he was succeeded,
in a year or two, by Georges Le Mesnager, the wine-grower.
On February i8th, another flood of unusual proportions,
continuing until May, devastated the Southland. Following
several days of heavy rain, the river rose and fifty houses and
large sections of vineyards and orchards in the low-lying
portions of the city were carried away by the mad waters;
several lives being lost. In that year, the Santa Ana cut
its new channel to the sea, deviating from the old course from
one to three miles, but still holding to the southwest, a direc-
tion apparently characteristic of rivers in this vicinity.
Speaking of rains, reminds me that, in 1884, one of the
difficulties in the way of solving the water problem was removed
in the purchase, by the City of Los Angeles, for fifty thousand
dollars, of Colonel Griffith J. Griffith's right to the water of the
Los Angeles River.
Charles F. Lummis, long a distinguished and always a
picturesquely-recognizable resident, walked across the con-
tinent "for fun and study," from Cincinnati to Los Angeles,
by a roundabout route of 3507 miles in one hundred and forty-
three days, in 1884, having made an arrangement with the Los
Angeles Times to which he contributed breezy letters on the
way. The day after his arrival he became city editor of that
newspaper, and in the last Apache campaign, in 1886, he was
its war correspondent. In 1887 a stroke of paralysis sent him
542 Sixty Years in Southern California [issi-
to New Mexico; and recovering, he spent several years explor-
ing and studying Spanish-America from Colorado to Chile,
becoming acknowledged here and abroad as an authority on the
history and the peoples of the lands he visited. In 1893, re-
turning from Peru, he edited for a dozen years the Land of
Sunshine magazine (later Out West) ; after that founding the
Landmarks Club to which we owe the preservation, from utter
ruin, of several of the old Missions. This club has lately been
reorganized to care for all of the twenty-one Missions of the
State. Later Lummis incorporated the Sequoya League which
has so much bettered the condition of thousands of California
Indians — securing, in particular, for the evicted Warner's
Ranch Indians a better reservation than that from which they
were driven. From 1905 to 191 1 he was Librarian of the Los
Angeles Public Library. In 1903 he founded the Southwest
Society of the Archgeological Institute of America which con-
ducted many scientific expeditions in Arizona, New Mexico
and Guatemala, acquired valuable collections and maintained
the first free public exhibits of science in Southern California.
In 1907 he and others incorporated the Southwest Museum,
whereupon the Society conveyed to it all its collections, a
twenty-acre site and the fifty thousand dollars bequeathed
by Mrs. Carrie M. Jones for the first buildings. Besides other
and many literary activities, Lummis has published over a
dozen notable books on the Southwest and Spanish America.'
Clad in corduroys from Barcelona — coat and trousers, with
very wide wales, of olive or green — wearing no vest, but having
a shirt of heavy drawn-work of the Pueblo Indians (with whom
he dwelt six years) , a red-and-white Jaja or waist-band made
by the same people, and a grey sombrero banded with Mexican
braided horse-hair, Lummis roams the desert or is welcome at
the most exclusive functions ; having already been a guest many
times at the White House and the palaces of Diaz and other
presidents in Spanish America. "I don't change my face for
'In 1915, in recognition of historical work, the King of Spain conferred upon
Lummis the dignity of a Knight Commander of the Royal Order of Isabel la
Cat61ica.
i884] Centenary of the City — Electric Light 543
company," he says, "then why my garb — so long as both are
clean?" An interesting figure at scientific meetings and on the
lecture platform, Lummis is equally so at home where, after
twenty years' work with his own hands, he is still building his
stone "castle," El Alisal; and as his house is a rendezvous for
artists, musicians, authors and scientists, his guests often find
him toiling as either carpenter or mason. The Alisal, by the
way, is built around the huge sycamore under which Greek
George camped with his camels on his first arrival in Los
Angeles nearly sixty years ago.
In 1884, Colonel H. Z. Osborne — always a foremost citizen
of the town and in 1912 a most energetic President of the
Chamber of Commerce — and E. R. Cleveland bought the
Express; and two years later they organized the Evening Ex-
press Company, J. Mills Davies, once Secretary of the Board
of Trade, becoming business manager. In 1897, Colonel Os-
borne was appointed United States Marshal for the Southern
California District, whereupon Charles D wight Willard became
general manager of the paper, to be succeeded by J. B. Abell.
For a short time in 1900, the Express fell into the hands of a
group of men, of whom John M. Miller acted as President and
Richard Beebe served as Secretary.
0. W. Childs opened his new theater known as Childs'
Opera House, on Main Street south of First, in what was then
the center of the city, on May 24th, when the School for Scandal
was given, Mile. Rhea taking the leading part. This, the first
theater of real consequence built in Los Angeles, had a seating
capacity of eighteen hundred; and for some time, at least, an
entertainment was booked there for every night of the week.
Frequently, too, whenever anything of moment was going to
happen there, Childs sent me an invitation to occupy his
private box.
An interesting personality for many years was C. P. Switzer,
a Virginian, who came in 1853 with Colonel HoUister, W. H.
Perry and others. Switzer became a contractor and builder;
but in 1884, in search of health, he moved to an eminence in
the Sierras, where he soon established Switzer's Camp, which
544 Sixty Years in Southern California ussi-
gradually became famous as a resort generally reached on bur-
ros. A few years ago, "Commodore" Switzer — or Sweitzer
as he was also called — retired, but the camp, more than
ever popular, has been continued as "Switzer's. "
Toward the middle of the eighties, excitement among
citrus growers throughout Southern California gave way to
deep depression due to the continued ravages of the fluted scale,
a persistent insect whose home, according to research, is Austra-
lia, and which had found its way, on Australian plants (and
especially on Acacia latifolia) into South Africa, New Zealand
and California, arriving on the Pacific Coast about 1868. This
particular species, known to the scientist as the Icerya pur-
chasi, resisted and survived all insecticide sprayings, washes
and fumigation, and for a while it seemed that one of the most
important and growing industries of the Southland was abso-
lutely doomed. Indeed, not until 1889, when the result of
Albert Koebele's mission to Australia, as a representative of
the Department of Agriculture, was made known, did hope
among the citrus orchardists revive. In that year, the tiny
ladybird — styled by the learned the Novius cardinalis, but
more popularly spoken of as the ladybug — the most effective
enemy of the fluted scale, was introduced here, the Govern-
ment establishing, among other stations, an experimental
laboratory on the Wolfskill ranch under the charge of Professor
D. W. Coquillett; and so rapidly was this tiny favorite of
children propagated and disseminated, that the dreaded scale
was exterminated and the. crops were saved. Wolfskill, by the
way, though he fought hard with the assistance of his foreman,
Alexander Craw, to save his noted trees, lacked the coopera-
tion of his neighbors; and the injury then inflicted largely
influenced him to subdivide his famous citrus property.
With the arrival on March ist, 1887, of J. O. Koepfli, a
man came on the scene who during the next twenty -five years
was to be not only one of the real forces in the development of
the city, but, as a whole-souled gentleman, was to surround
himself, through his attractive personality, with a large circle
of representative and influential friends. As President of the
i884] Centenary of the City — Electric Light 545
Merchants' Association, his record was such that in 1896 he
was elected a director of the Chamber of Commerce where,
during twelve years, he performed valiant service on all the
important committees. His work in behalf of the harbor and
the Owens River aqueduct is especially memorable. He was
President of the Chamber in 1905 and 1906. With such men
as C. D. Willard and R. W. Burnham, he founded the Municipal
League, whose President he was for seven years. His efforts
were always free from the taint of personal aggrandizement,
and he thus had the public confidence. He is a member of
the well-known firm of Bishop & Company.
Among the present social organizations of the city, the Los
Angeles Athletic Club takes second place in point of age. It
was organized in 1879 by forty young men, among whom were
Fred Wood, Bradner W. Lee, Mark G. Jones, Frank M.
Coulter, Frank A. Gibson, John S. Thayer, M. H. Newmark,
W. G. Kerckhoff, Alfredo Solano, J. B. Lankershim, W. M.
Caswell, James C. Kays, Joseph Binford, and Samuel Dewey.
The initial meeting took place in Wood's office in the McDonald
Block, and a hall in the Arcadia Building was the Club's earliest
headquarters. J. B. Lankershim was the first President. A
few years later, the Club moved to the Downey Block; and
there the boys had many a merry bout. In the course of time,
the gymnasium was located on Spring Street, between Fourth
and Fifth; now it occupies its own spacious and elaborate
building on Seventh Street, at the corner of Olive, the Club's
quarters being among the finest of their kind in America.
CHAPTER XXXVII
REPETTO AND THE LAWYERS
1885-1887
TEN or twelve months after the starting of the first cable
railway here, Los Angeles, in 1885, resumed the march
of progress, this time with an electric street car line.
Poles — with huge arms stretching out into the middle of the
street and often spoken of derisively as gallows-poles — and
wires were strung along Los Angeles and San Pedro streets,
down Maple Avenue to Pico Street and thence westward
to what was known as the Electric Homestead Tract, just
outside of the city limits. A company owned much land not
likely to be sold in a hurry, and to exploit the same rapidly, the
owners built the road. F. H. Howland, who introduced the
electric light here, was a prime mover in this project, but ill
fortune attended his efforts and he died a poor man.
On January nth, my wife and I left for a trip to the City of
Mexico, where we spent four or five days and were pleasantly
entertained, before going to the New Orleans Exposition, by our
old friend, Judge Ygnacio Sepiilveda and his wife. Previous
to crossing the border, we stored our trunks in El Paso and
received them upon our return, strapped as before. Some
valuables, however, which I had hidden away in the linen were
missing when I reopened the trunk, and have never been
recovered. Among other companions on this outing were Fred,
son of J. M. Griffith, and James S., son of Jonathan S. Slauson,
By the bye, James himself has had an honorable public career,
546
[i88s-i887] Repetto and the Lawyers 547
having served in one of his activities as President of the
Chamber of Commerce.
Early in March, I believe, sewing was first introduced into
the public schools of Los Angeles, the Board of Education con-
senting to it only as an experiment.
Two celebrities divided the honors in the spring and
summer in local circles : United States Senator John Sherman,
who visited Los Angeles on May 8th, 1885, and Sir Arthur
Sullivan, the distinguished English composer, of Pinafore
and Mikado fame, who tarried near the ocean in the hot days
of August.
About 1885, a Dr. Sketchley, who enjoyed some reputation
for his work in the natural history field and had been a traveler
through many remote countries, brought to Los Angeles quite a
collection of ostriches and opened, about where Tropico lies,
an amusement resort known as "The Ostrich Farm." Having
provided a coach to connect with the end of the Temple Street
cable cars and advertised the strange peculiarities of his
finely-feathered animals, the Doctor soon did a thriving busi-
ness, notwithstanding the task of caring for the birds in their
new environment. Later, Sketchley removed from Los Angeles
to Red Bluff ; but there he failed and lost all that he had.
Soon after Dr. Sketchley arrived here with his ostriches
and three or four men and one woman from Madras, Edwin
Cawston, an Englishman now retired and living in Surrey,
happening (while on a tour through America) to glance at an
article in Harper's Magazine pointing out the possibilities
of successfully raising ostriches, returned to London, secured
the necessary capital and in 1887 began shipping these camel-
birds from South Africa to Los Angeles. Many of the easily-
affected creatures died at sea; yet forty, as good luck would
have it, survived, and with them Cawston and a partner named
Fox opened a second "ostrich farm" at Washington Gardens.
In time, Cawston transferred his establishment to La Habra,
associating with himself E. H. Rydall as publicity agent; and
in 1908 the Cawston Ostrich Farm, between Los Angeles and
Pasadena, was incorporated.
548 Sixty Years in Southern California usss-
Quite naturally with the advent of the settler from the
East and the Middle West, the zanjas, in early years so service-
able both for domestic and irrigation purposes and, therefore,
more or less venerable, came to be looked upon as mere sur-
face-conveyers and public nuisances; a sign, in 1883, at the
comer of Sixth and Olive streets warning teamsters against
crossing the ditch. By 1885, such opposition had developed
that most of the zanjas were condemned, the one extending
from Requena Street to Adams via Figueroa being, if I am
right, one of the last that was buried from view.
For some time. East Los Angeles maintained its character
as a village or small town, and in 1885 the East Side Cham-
pion, started and edited by Edward A. Weed, voiced the com-
munity's interests.
This year was marked by the demise of a number of well-
known Angelenos. On the second of March, John Schumacher,
a man esteemed and beloved by many, died here of apoplexy,
in the seventieth year of his age. Six days later, General
Phineas Banning, who had been sick for several months, expired
at San Francisco, his wife and daughters being with him ; and
on March 12th, he was buried in Rosedale Cemetery. In
his declining years, illness often compelled General Banning to
remain at home in Wilmington ; and when needing the services
of his physician, Dr. Joseph Kurtz, he would send a locomotive
to fetch him. On June 5th, Dr. Vincent Gelcich, the pioneer
surgeon, died here at the age of fifty-six years.
In 1885, the first medical school in Los Angeles was founded
in the house once occupied by Vache Freres, the wine-makers,
on Aliso Street between Lyons and Center. For years the
school was conducted as a part of the University of Southern
California, and Dr. J. P. Widney was Dean.
In the fall of 1885 Dr. M. Dorothea Lummis, a graduate in
medicine of the Boston University, settled in Los Angeles and
in time became President of the Los Angeles County Homeo-
pathic Medical Society. Distinguished in her profession, Dr.
Lummis became a leader in humane endeavor, reorganizing
here the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
i887] Repetto and the Lawyers 549
and founding the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Children.
The first train of the Santa Fe Railroad to enter the city
of Los Angeles ran from Colton over the rails of the Southern
Pacific, on November 29th, the two corporations having come
to an agreement to use the one set of tracks until the spring
of 1887, when the Santa Fe finished building from San Ber-
nardino to its junction with the Los Angeles & San Gabriel
Valley Railroad. The locomotive bore the name, L. Severy —
a prominent director in the Company, and the father of the
well-known resident of Pasadena — and the mmaber 354.
After twenty years' association with the wholesale grocery
business, I withdrew, on December 5th, 1885, from H. New-
mark & Company, and on that day the business was absorbed
by M. A. Newmark, M. H. Newmark, Max Cohn and Carl
Seligman, and continued as M. A. Newmark & Company.
This gave me the opportunity of renewing my association with
one of my earliest partners, Kaspare Cohn, the new firm becom-
ing K. Cohn & Company; and the change in my activities
found me once again shipping hides and wool.
Looking through the haze of years, many are the recol-
lections— often vague, it is true — of those v/ith whom I had
business relations. In the picturesque adobe days, the majority
of my customers were simple-mannered natives such as
Manuel Carizosa, on South Alameda Street; Jose Maria
Davila, in Sonora Town next door to Jose Maria Fuentes,
his competitor; and M. G. Santa Cruz, in the same district.
Jordan Brothers, Americans, kept store on Aliso Street opposite
the Aliso Mill, and G. Ginnochio, father-in-law of James Cas-
truccio, on Macy Street, near the river; while Bernardino Guir-
ado, Mrs. John G. Downey's brother, and Max Schwed supplied
the wants of Los Nietos. J. B. Savarots, who went to South
America when he sold out to J. Salaberri & Company — a firm
composed of two Basques, Juan Salaberri and Domingo Oy-
harzabel — was in general merchandise in San Juan Capistrano.
Hippolyte Cahen (whose widow is a member of the Lazarus
Stationery Company,) had an up-to-date general store at
550 Sixty Years in Southern California I^^ss-
Anaheim; and Simon Cahen, son-in-law of Bernard Cohn, was
similarly occupied in the Azusa district. Others of about the
same period, were Dominico Rivara, who established himself
on Main Street near Commercial, shortly to be succeeded by
Vignolo & Sanguinetti, in whose store — known as La Esperanza
and near Castruccio Brothers' La Mariposa — Jim Moiso bought
an interest. Two more Main Street merchants were A. C.
Chauvin, who conducted his El Dorado Store in the Lanfranco
Building, and his neighbor, Joe Lazarowich. And near them
Francisco Vassallo had his little fruit stand. The erratic Lucas
Sciscisch, who terminated his life as a suicide, attended diligently
to business on First Street, near Los Angeles; and not so very
far away Thomas Strohm was laying the foundation, in his
grocery trade, for that popularity which caused him, in the
eighties, to be chosen Chief of the Fire Department. Antonio
Valle, who built on the northeast corner of First and Los
Angeles streets (calling the block in honor of his five sons,
the Five Brothers) , for a number of years had a grocery store
on Main Street near Requena and not far from the butcher
shop of Vickery & Hinds.
In view of the ravages of time among the ranks of these
old-timers, it is a satisfaction to observe that at least some of
those who were active before I retired are still in the trade.
The first-comer was George A. Ralphs, who, reaching Los
Angeles as a boy, learned brick-masonry and was known as the
Champion Bricklayer of California until, while on a hunting
expedition, he lost an arm.' With a man named Francis, he
started, in 1877, the Ralphs & Francis Grocery, on the old
Georgetown corner. This was the beginning of the Ralphs
Grocery Company. In February, 1882, Hans Jevne, a Nor-
wegian by birth, who had been associated with his brother
in Chicago, came to Los Angeles, and a few months later
he opened a small grocery store in the Strelitz Block at 38
and 40 North Spring Street. In less than no time, so to
' On June 2ist, 1914, Mr. Ralphs lost his life in a deplorable accident in the San
Bernardino Mountains, being crushed by a huge bowlder; although his wife es-
caped by springing from the rolling rock.
i887] Repetto and the Lawyers 551
speak, the good housewives of the town were able to secure
the rarest tidbits from all the markets of the world ; and not
only that, but Jevne, since his advent here, has been iden-
tified with most important steps in the evolution of the
city. W. F. Ball for thirty years or more has been a tobacco-
nist, and for thirty years, or somewhat less, has occupied
the same premises on Spring Street, north of First. ■ The
Williams family came from England in 1882, and George
soon established his grocery business out in what was then
known as the University district, where he bought a block
of land. George has given of his time for the public weal,
having been for several terms a City Councilman. Another
Los Angeles merchant who has attained success is Albert
Cohn ; and while his start in life, in an independent career, began
a couple of years after my retirement, he had been in my employ
as a clerk almost from the time of his arrival, in 1882. Marius
Bellue has been located on South Alameda Street so long that it
seems as though he must have arrived here in the Year One.
So much for the merchants of the city ; among such trades-
men in the districts outside of Los Angeles, I can recall but three
active in my day and still active in this. Alphonse Weil,
a native of the sunny slopes of France, has grown up with the
town of Bakersfield. John R. Newberry opened his doors in
1882, and, after moving to Los Angeles in 1893, commenced that
meteoric career, during which he established stores throughout
Los Angeles and its suburbs. George A. Edgar, about thirty-
one years ago, brought a stock of groceries and crockery to
Santa Ana and deposited the contents of his cases in the same
location, and on the same shelves, from which he still caters
to his neighbors.
The great flood of 1886 reached its first serious state on
January 19th. All of Los Angeles between Wilmington Street
and the hills on the east side was inundated ; levees were carried
off as if they were so much loose sand and stubble; and for
two or three weeks railway communication with the outside
world was impossible.
During this inundation on January 19th, Martin G. Aguirre,
552 Sixty Years in Southern California I'SSs-
who was a deputy under Sheriff George E. Gard, gave an exhibi-
tion of great courage. So rapidly had the waters risen that
many persons were marooned; and it was only by throwing
himself on the back of his favorite horse that Aguirre, at very
great risk, rescued twenty or more people from drowning,
the number including many children. In the last attempt,
Aguirre nearly lost his own life. Somewhat of a hero, in
November, 1888, he was elected Sheriff, defeating Tom Rowan
for that office.
Rebecca Lee Dorsey, another of the early women practi-
tioners of medicine, came to Los Angeles in January, 1886,
a graduate both of Eastern colleges and of a leading Vienna
hospital. Peddling vegetables as a child, later working as a
servant and hiring out as a nurse while finishing her course
in Europe, Dr. Dorsey was of a type frequently found among
the early builders of the Southwest.
Largely to a board of Commissioners, consisting of Mayor
E. F. Spence, H. Sinsabaugh and the ever-ready Jake Kuhrts,
appointed in 1886 when provision was made for a paid fire
department, is due the honor of having successfully arranged
the present excellent system in Los Angeles.
It was in 1886 that we bought the Repetto rancho, under
circumstances of such interest that it may be well to tell some-
thing about the owner and his connections. Alessandro Repetto
was an Italian of such immense size that he was compelled, when
standing, to shift the weight of his body from one leg to the
other. He was miserly in the extreme, but this was compen-
sated for by his honesty and uprightness of character. He was
also far from being neat, and I remember the way in which he
dispensed hospitality when I visited his ranch to buy wool.
He would bring out some very ordinary wine and, before serv-
ing it, would rinse out the glasses with his fat fingers; and it
was courtesy alone that prompted me to partake of what he
offered. He lived on his ranch, but when attacked by his last
illness, he took a room at the New Arlington Hotel, formerly
the White House, on the southeast comer of Commercial and
Los Angeles streets.
i887] Repetto and the Lawyers 553
There, finding him alone and neglected, I advised him to
go to the Sisters' Hospital on Ann Street; but the change
did not save him and after a few days he died. A fellow
Italian named Scotti, a knave of a chap who was with him
in his last moments, knowing that I was Repetto's execu-
tor, soon brought to my house a lot of papers which he
had taken from the dead man's pockets.
Repetto being a recluse somewhat on the misanthropic
order, I had difficulty in getting pallbearers for his funeral, one
of my applications being to James Castruccio, President of the
Italian Benevolent Society and then Italian Consul, who said
that Repetto had never helped anyone, but that if I would give,
in his name, five hundred dollars to charity, the attendants would
be supplied. To this I demurred, because Repetto had made
no such provision in his will; and Castruccio giving me no
satisfaction, I went to Father Peter, explained to him that
Repetto had bequeathed six thousand dollars to the Church,
and stated my needs; whereupon Father Peter arranged for
the bearers. All the provisions for the funeral having been
settled, I cabled to his brother and heir, then living in the
mountains near Genoa, whose address I had obtained from
Castruccio. Repetto had really hated this brother and, in
consequence, he had very unwilUngly bequeathed him his
large estate.
In due season, the brother, a hunchback, appeared on
deck as an intimate with Scotti, and I found him to be an
uncouth, ignorant fellow and a man who had probably never
handled a ten-dollar gold piece or its equivalent in his hfe.
He had on shoes that an elephant might have worn, a common,
corduroy suit, a battered hat and plenty of dirt. Wishing to
take him to Stephen M. White, my lawyer, I advised the pur-
chase of new clothes ; but in this, as in other matters, I appealed
in vain. So miserly was he indeed, that one day, having
purchased a five-cent loaf of bread in Sonora Town, he was seen
to hide himself behind a building while he ate it, doubtless
fearful lest someone might ask him for a bite.
Alessandro Repetto had lived with an Indian woman by
554 Sixty Years in Southern California [isss-
whom he had a son ; and a Los Angeles attorney soon had him-
self appointed guardian, declaring that the property belonged,
not to the brother, but to the boy. This, because the woman
had never left her husband, was blackmail, pure and simple;
besides Repetto had willed the lad some property in San
Gabriel. Stephen M. White was the attorney for the estate;
but when this lawsuit started, Scotti advised the unsophisti-
cated brother to take other lawyers. Two men, accordingly, one
named Robarts and the other Jim Howard, suddenly appeared
at the trial ; and when I asked why they were there, they replied
that they had been engaged by Repetto's brother. Four
hundred and seventy-five dollars settled this extortion, the
lawyers taking all but twenty-five dollars, which was paid to
the mother of the boy.
Early in the morning, a few days later — either on Christmas
or New Year's — there was a knock at my door ; and when the girl
answered the call, the Sheriff was found there with the interest-
ing news that Repetto had been arrested and that he wished
me to bail him out ! I learned that Robarts and Howard had
presented him with a bill for three thousand five hundred
dollars, for services; and that, since the money was not
immediately forthcoming, they had trumped up some sort
of a charge and had had the foreigner incarcerated. White
advised a settlement, and after much difficulty we succeeded
in having their bill reduced to three thousand dollars, which we
paid.
Repetto's troubles now seemed at an end ; but just as he was
ready to leave for Italy, Scotti put in an appearance with
a claim for benefits bestowed, which the much-fleeced Italian
refused to pay. Scotti, knowing along which road the unfortu-
nate man would travel, was early at San Gabriel with the
Sheriff, to intercept Repetto and return him to limbo ; and the
Genoese being brought back, he again appealed to me. It was
now my turn, as executor, to have an interesting inning with
Scotti. While I was settling the estate, I was made aware
that Repetto had loaned another Italian named G. Bernero,
on his note, some three thousand dollars; but this document
i887] Repetto and the Lawyers 555
I missed, and it was only by accident that I traced it to Scotti.
He had abstracted it from the papers found in Repetto's pocket,
carried it to the borrower, and sold it back to him, for four
hundred dollars! I recovered this note and collected the bal-
ance due; nevertheless, when Scotti had Repetto arrested, I
threatened the former with prosecution on the charge of stealing
and selling the note, with the result that Scotti did not press
his suit and Repetto was released.
In connection with this move by Scotti, Robarts and
Howard reappeared to defend Repetto, notwithstanding his
previous announcement that he would have nothing more to do
with them ; and to bolster up their claim, they drew forth a paper
certifying that Repetto had engaged them to attend to any law
business he might have while he was in this country ! Repetto,
now really alarmed, once more quickly settled ; but the crafty
Robarts and Howard had another bill up their sleeves, this time
for three or four thousand dollars, and poor Repetto was obliged
to pay that, too!
Kaspare Cohn, J. D. Bicknell, I. W. Hellman and S. M.
White, in conjunction with myself, bought the Repetto Ranch
from the brother, before he left for Italy, for sixty thousand
dollars. All in all, the heir, who survived the date of his
windfall but a few years, carried away with him the snug sum
of one hundred thousand dollars.
This fine domain, lying between Whittier and Los Angeles,
was apportioned long before 1899, among the five purchasers.
In that year, Kaspare Cohn and I, on the advice of William
MulhoUand, developed water on our undivided share, meeting
with as great a success as has attended all of the operations
of that eminent engineer. After an abundance of water was
secured, we sold the property in five-acre and smaller lots,
locating the town site of Newmark near the tracks of the San
Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad, and naming the
entire settlement Montebello.
It was in the spring of 1886 that Colonel H. H. Boyce, who
had been business manager of the Times-Mirror Company, was
bought out by Colonel H. G. Otis and became editor-in-chief
556 Sixty Years in Southern California [isss-
and general manager of the Los Angeles Tribune, conducting the
paper, during his short association, with some vigor.
One more reference to the Times-Mirror publishing house.
On April 8th, the company was reorganized, with Colonel H.
G. Otis as President and General Manager, Albert McFarland
as Vice-President and Treasurer and William A. Spalding as
Secretary. About the middle of July, the company bought
the corner of Fort and First streets, and in the following May
moved to its new home erected there. On February ist, 1887,
the Times began to appear seven days in the week.
After grinding away for ten years as the sole owner of the
Los Angeles Herald, J. D. Lynch, in 1886, took into partner-
ship his former associate, James J. Ayers, and once more the
alliance of these puissant forces made of the paper a formidable
bulwark for the Democracy.
Colonel John Franklin, or plain J. F. Godfrey as he was
known in those days, was rather a prominent attorney in his
time; and I knew him very well. About 1886, as chairman of a
Democratic committee, he headed the delegation that invited
me to become a candidate for Mayor of Los Angeles; but a
contemplated European trip compelled me to decline the honor.
In the spring of 1886, a falling out between the Southern
Pacific and the Santa Fe railroads brought on a rate-war,
disastrous enough to those companies but productive of great
benefit to Los Angeles. Round-trip tickets from points as far
east as the Missouri River were hammered down to fifteen
dollars, and for a few days, Charley White (who then conducted
the Southern Pacific office in the Baker Block, and had full au-
thority to make new fares) defied the rival road by establishing
a tourist rate of just one dollar ! When normality again pre-
vailed, the fare was advanced to fifty dollars for first-class
passage and forty dollars for second-class. The low rate during
the fight encouraged thousands of Easterners to visit the Coast,
and in the end many sacrificed their return coupons and settled
here; while others returned to their Eastern homes only to
prepare for permanent removal West. In a sense, therefore,
this railroad war contributed to the Boom of a year or two later.
i887] Repetto and the Lawyers 557
Freight as well as passenger rates were slashed during this
spasmodic contest, and it was then that the ridiculous charge
of one dollar per ton permitted me to bring in by rail, from
Chicago, several carloads of coal, which I distributed among
my children. Such an opportunity will probably never again
present itself to Los Angeles.
Another interesting shipment was that of a carload of wil-
low-ware from New York, the freight -bill for which amounted
to eight dollars and thirty-five cents. These goods ordinarily
bear a very high tariff ; but competition had hammered every-
thing down to a single classification and rate. I remember,
also, that M. A. Newmark & Company brought from New York
a train-load of Liverpool salt, then a staple commodity here,
paying a rate of sixty cents per ton.
Stimulated, perhaps, through the setting aside of Elysian
Park by the City Council, another pleasure-ground, then
known as East Los Angeles Park, was assured to the pubUc
toward the middle of the eighties; the municipal authorities
at the same time spending about five thousand dollars to
improve the Plaza, one of the striking features of which was
a circular row of evergreens imiformly trimmed to a conical
shape.
On October 14th, H. T. Payne and Edward Records pub-
lished the initial number of the Los Angeles Tribune, this being
the first newspaper here to appear seven days in the week.
The following January, a company was incorporated and for
years the Tribune was well maintained.
Charles Frederick Holder, the distinguished naturalist,
came to California in search of health,' in 1886, and settled
in Pasadena, where he was appointed Professor of Zoology in
the Throop Institute. An enthusiastic admirer of the South-
land and an early explorer of its islands and mountain ranges,
Professor Holder has devoted much attention to Pasadena
and the neighboring coast. As early as 1891, he published
Antiquities of Catalina; later he wrote his spirited Southern
California book on Life and Sport in the Open; and with his
■ Died on October loth, 1915.
558 Sixty Years in Southern California [isss-
gift for popularizing, probably no other scientific writer has con-
tributed more to make known, both in America and abroad,
this attractive portion of our great State.
Prudent and Victor Beaudry bought considerable land on
the west side of New High Street, probably in 1887, including
the site of one of the old calabozos; and as some of the purchase
was a hill, he spent about one hundred thousand dollars grading
the property, excavating fifty thousand or more cubic feet of
earth and building the great retaining wall, finished in 1888,
four hundred and sixty -five feet long and fifty feet high, and
containing two hundred thousand cubic feet of stone. When
he was ready, Beaudry began to advertise the superior merits of
his land; and I still have in my possession one of the flaring
circulars, printed in red ink, including such headlines as
these :
NOW IS THE TIME !
don't shut your eyes and turn your back!
and the following :
Have a Home on the Hills ! Stop paying rent in the Valleys !
View from your own home the broad Pacific, the green hills and
the model city ! Best water supply. Drainage perfect. Best
sunny exposures. Pure air, and away from fogs !
Have a Home on the line of the great Cable Railway system !
Mark your Catalogue before the day of sale !
February 15, 16 and 17, at 10 o'clock each Day.
Bear in mind that this property is on the HILLS, and on
the line of the Cable Railway System! No such opportunity
has ever been offered to the people of Southern California.
Public School and Young Ladies' Seminary in the immediate
vicinity.
Four years after he had built the Nadeau Block, Remi
i887] Repetto and the Lawyers 559
Nadeau died here, at the age of sixty-eight, on January 15th.
The same month, another man of marked enterprise, Llewellyn
J., brother of Reese and William Llewellyn, founded the Llewel-
lyn Iron Works, attaining a success and fame very natural con-
sidering that the Llewellyns' father, David, and uncle, Reese
before them had acquired a reputation as ironworkers both in
Wales and San Francisco.
In January, Fred W. Beau de Zart and John G. Hunsicker
established The Weekly Directory, whose title was soon changed
to that of The Commercial Bulletin. Under the able editorship
of Preston McKinney, the Bulletin is still fulfilling its mission.
Phineas, son of J. P. Newmark, my brother, came to Los
Angeles in 1887 and associated himself with M. A. Newmark &
Company. In July, 1894, he bought out the Southern Cali-
fornia Coffee and Spice Mills, and in the following September,
his younger brother, Samuel M. Newmark, also came to Los
Angeles and joined him under the title of Newmark Brothers.
On December 26th, 1910, the city suffered a sad loss in the un-
timely death of the elder brother. Sam's viriUty has been
amply shown in his career as a business man and in his
activity as a member of the Municipal League directorate.
Among the hotels of the late eighties were the Belmont and
the Bellevue Terrace, both frame buildings. The former, at
the terminus of the Second Street Cable Railway, was known
for its elevation, view, fresh air and agreeable environment of
lawn and flower-bed, and the first floor was surrounded with
broad verandas. For a while it was conducted by Clark &
Patrick, who claimed for it "no noise, dirt or mosquitoes."
The latter hotel, on Pearl Street near Sixth, was four stories in
height and had piazzas extending around three of them ; both
of these inns were quite characteristic of Southern California
architecture. The Bellevue Terrace, so full of life during the
buoyant Boom days, still stands, but alas! the familiar old pile
has surrendered to more modern competitors.
The Tivoli Opera House, on Main Street between Second
and Third, was opened by McLain & Lehman in 1887, and for a
time it was one of the attractions of the city. It presented a
56o Sixty Years in Southern California [isss-
curious mixture of Egyptian, East Indian and Romanesque
styles, and was designed by C. E. Apponyi, an architect who
had come to the Coast in 1870. The stage was the largest,
except one — that of the San Francisco Grand Opera House — on
the Coast, and there were eight proscenium boxes. The
theater proper stood in the rear of the lot, and entrance
thereto was had through the building fronting on the street;
and between the two structures there was a pretty garden,
with grottos and fountains, and a promenade gallery above.
In February, the Postmaster packed the furniture and other
outfit — only two or three good loads — and moved the Post Office
to the Hellman Building, at the corner of North Main and
Republic streets; but it was soon transferred to an office on
Fort Street, south of Sixth, a location so far from the center of the
city as to give point to cards distributed by some wag and
advertising rates for sleeping accommodations to the new
office. In that year, the sum-total of the receipts of the Los
Angeles Post Office was not much over seventy-four thousand
dollars. During the twelve months of the Boom, mail for over
two hundred thousand transients was handled; and a familiar
sight of the times was the long column of inquirers, reminding
one of the famous lines in early San Francisco when prospectors
for gold paid neat sums for someone else's place nearer the
general delivery window.
I have told of some incidents in the routine of court pro-
ceedings here, in which both judge and counselor played their
parts. Now and then the juror also contributed to the diver-
sion, as was evidenced in the late eighties when a couple of
jurymen in a San Gabriel Canon water case created both
excitement and merriment through a practical joke. Tiring
of a midnight session, and bethinking himself of the new inven-
tion to facilitate speaking at a distance, one of the jurors
telephoned police headquarters that rioters were slashing each
other at a near-by corner ; whereupon the guardians of the peace
came tearing that way, to the merriment of the "twelve good
men and true " peeking out from an upper window. The police
having traced the telephone message, the jury was duly haled
i887] Repetto and the Lawyers 561
before the judge; and the latter, noting the reticence of the
accused, imposed a fine of twenty-five dollars upon each mem-
ber of the box for his prank.
William H. Workman, who had repeatedly served the City
as Councilman, was elected Mayor of Los Angeles in 1887.
During Workman's administration. Main, Spring and Fort
streets were paved.
About 1887, Benjamin S. Eaton, as President, took the lead
in organizing a society designed to bring into closer relationship
those who had come to California before her admission to the
Union. There were few members; and inasmuch as the condi-
tions imposed for eligibility precluded the possibility of securing
many more, this first union of pioneers soon ceased to exist.
Professor T. S. C. Lowe, with a splendid reputation for
scientific research, especially in the field of aeronautics — having
acquired his first experience with balloons, as did also Graf
Ferdinand Zeppelin, by participating in the Union army
maneuvers during our Civil War — took up, in the late eighties,
the business of manufacturing gas from water, which he said
could be accomplished beyond any doubt for eight cents a
• thousand feet. C. F. Smurr, the capable Los Angeles agent of
the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, as well as Hugh Liv-
ingston Macniel, son-in-law of Jonathan S. Slauson and then
Cashier of the Main Street Savings Bank, became interested
with Lowe and induced Kaspare Cohn and me to participate
in the experiment.
Accordingly, we purchased six acres of land on the southeast
corner of Alameda and Seventh streets for fifteen thousand
dollars, and there started the enterprise. We laid pipes through
many of the streets and, in the course of a few months, began
to manufacture gas which it was our intention to sell to con-
sumers at one dollar per thousand feet. The price at which gas
was then being sold by the Los Angeles Gas Company was one
dollar and fifty cents per thousand, and we therefore considered
our schedule reasonable. Everything at the outset looked
so plausible that Smurr stated to his associates that he
would resign his position with the railroad and assume the
36
562 Sixty Years in Southern California [isss-
management of the new gas works ; but to our chagrin, we found
that gas was costing us more than one dollar per thousand, and
as one discouragement followed another, Smurr concluded not to
take so radical a step. Yet we remained in business in the hope
that the Los Angeles Gas Company would rather buy us out
than reduce their price fifty cents a thousand feet, and sure
enough, it was not so very long before they did. The large
gas tank now standing at the corner of Seventh and Alameda
streets is the result of this transaction.
Late in the spring, Senator Stanford and a party of Southern
Pacific officials visited Los Angeles with the view of locating
a site for the new and "magnificent railroad station" long
promised the city, and at the same time to win some of the
popular favor then being accorded the Santa Fe. For many .
years, objection had been made to the tracks on Alameda Street,
originally laid down by Banning; and hoping to secure their
removal, Mayor Workman offered a right of way along the
river-front. This suggestion was not accepted. At length
the owners of the Wolfskill tract donated to the railroad com-
pany a strip of land, three hundred by nineteen hundred feet
in size, fronting on Alameda between Fourth and Sixth streets,
with the provision that the company should use the same only
for railroad station purposes ; and Stanford agreed to put up a
"splendid arcade," somewhat similar in design to, but more
extensive and elaborate than, the Arcade Depot at Sacramento.
Soon after this, the rest of that celebrated orchard tract,
for over fifty years in the possession of the Wolfskill family,
was subdivided, offered at private sale and quickly disposed of.
The old-fashioned, one-horse street car had been running
on and off the tracks many a year before the City Railroad,
organized, in the middle eighties, by I. W. Hellman and his asso-
ciates, W. J. Brodrick, John O. Wheeler and others, made its
more pretentious appearance on the streets of Los Angeles.
This, the first line to use double tracks and more modem cars
with drivers and conductors, followed a route then considered
very long. Starting as it did at Washington Street and leading
north on Figueroa, it turned at Twelfth Street into Olive and
1887] Repetto and the Lawyers 563
thence, zigzagging by way of Fifth, Spring, First, Main, Mar-
chessault, New High, Bellevue Avenue, Buena Vista, College,
Upper Main and San Fernando streets, it passed River Station
(the Southern Pacific depot on San Fernando Street), and ran
out Downey Avenue as far as the Pasadena Railroad depot.
The year 1885 saw the addition of another Spanish name
to the local map in the founding of Alhambra, now one of the
attractive and prosperous suburbs of Los Angeles.
Sometime in the spring of 1885, or perhaps a little earlier, the
Second Street Cable Railway was commenced when Isaac W.
Lord turned a spadeful of earth at the comer of Second and
Spring streets ; and within a few months cars were running from
Bryson Block west on Second Street over Bunker Hill along
Lakeshore Avenue and then by way of First Street to Belmont
Avenue, soon bringing about many improvements on the route.
And if I am not mistaken, considerable patronage came from
the young ladies attending a boarding school known as Belmont
Hall. Henry Clay Witmer was a moving spirit in this enter-
prise. In course of time the cable railway connected with the
steam dummy line, landing passengers in a watermelon patch —
the future Hollywood.
Unlike Sierra Madre, so long retarded for want of railway
facilities, Monrovia — founded in May, 1886, by William N.
Monroe, at an altitude of twelve hundred feet, and favored by
both the Santa Fe and the Southern Pacific systems — rapidly
developed, although it did not attain its present importance as
a foothill town until it had passed through the usual depression
of the late eighties, due to the collapse of the Boom, of which
I am about to speak.
CHAPTER XXXVIII
THE GREAT BOOM
1887
NOT as impulsively perhaps as on previous occasions, I left
Los Angeles for Europe on April 30th, 1887, accom-
panied by my wife and our two children, Marco and
Rose. Mrs. Eugene Aleyer, my wife's youngest sister, and her
daughter joined us at San Francisco and traveled with us as far
as Paris. We took passage on the French ship Normandie, de-
parting from the Morton Street Pier in New York on May
14th, and nine days later we landed at Havre, from which port
we proceeded to the French capital.
On this trip we visited France, England, Scotland, Ireland,
Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Germany, Austria — including
Bohemia — and Italy. We also touched at points in Sweden,
although we did not "do" that country thoroughly until a later
voyage. While in Germany, where I met my nephew Leo — -
son of J. P. Newmark — then a student in Strassburg, I was im-
pressed with the splendid hotels and State highways, and the
advantage taken of natural resources ; and from Ems on July
22d, I wrote a letter on the subject to Kaspare Cohn, which
I later found had been published by one of the Los Angeles
dailies. During this journey we traveled with M. J. Newmark
and his family. It was also on this tour, on June loth, that I
returned to my native town of Loebau, both to visit the graves
of my parents and once more to see some relatives and a few
old friends.
In Paris we had an exciting experience as observers of a coQ-
564
[18871 The Great Boom 565
flagration that might have terminated seriously for us. We had
been thinking of going to the Opera Comique in the evening,
but instead had accepted an invitation to dinner at the residence
of Alexander Weil, the well-known international banker, formerly
of San Francisco ; and only on our return to the Hotel du Helder,
a comfortable family hostelry in the Rue du Helder (within a
couple of blocks of the theater) , did we learn of a disastrous fire
in the opera house which caused the loss of many lives. For
blocks around, streets and sidewalks were roped in and great
was the confusion everywhere. The following day a number
of solicitous inquiries arrived from friends in America.
In connection with our departure for this tour of Europe, I
am reminded of a unique gift to my wife of a diary in eight
volumes, tastefully bound in Russian leather — the whole neatly
encased for traveling. With almost painful regularity my wife
entered there her impressions and recollections of all she saw,
refusing to retire at night, as a rule, until she had posted up her
book for the day. Glancing over these pages written in her
distinct, characteristically feminine hand, I note once more the
intellectual vigor and perspicuity displayed by my companion
in this, her first contact with European life and customs.
It was during my absence, on May 2d, that Erskine Mayo
Ross was appointed, by President Cleveland, Judge of the new
United States District Court just established. He was then in
partnership with Stephen M. White. A native of Belpre, Vir-
ginia, he had come to Los Angeles in 1868 to study law with
his uncle, Cameron E. Thom. Soon admitted to the Bar, he was
elected in 1879, ^^ the age of thirty-four, to the Supreme Bench
of the State. The Judge, with whom I have been on friendly
terms since his arrival, is stiU living in Los Angeles, a famiUar
and welcome figure in club circles.
Speaking of this esteemed Judge, I am reminded of a visit
here, in 1887, of Justice Stephen J. Field, when he sat with
Judge Ross in the United States Circuit Court, the sessions of
which were then held over the Farmers & Merchants National
Bank at the comer of Main and Commercial streets. On that
occasion the members of the Bar, irrespective of party, united
566 Sixty Years in Southern California [1887
to do him honor; and Justice Field, in turn, paid a warm
tribute to Los Angeles and her hospitality.
D. W. Hanna, a Michigan pedagogue who had come to Los
Angeles in 1884 to open ElUs College on Fort Street near Temple
— burned in 1888 — established on September 2d, 1885, the Los
Angeles College, a boarding school for girls, in a couple of
buildings at the corner of Fifth and Olive streets. In 1887
Hanna, having formed a stock company, erected a new school
structure at the southwest corner of Eighth and Hope streets,
where eighteen teachers soon instructed some two hundred and
fifty students. But the institution failed, and the building, still
standing, was finally bought by Abbot Kinney and named the
Abbotsford Inn.
In a note regarding the life and accomplishments of Mme.
Severance, I have referred to the distinguished role played by
this Angelena in the early advocacy of the kindergarten for
America. It took three years, however, for the educational
authorities here to awake to the significance of the departure,
for it was not until 1887 that Froebel's plan was admitted for
experiment into the Los Angeles schools.
A group of Presbyterian clergymen from Los Angeles and
vicinity in 1887 joined in establishing Occidental College — now,
as developed under John Willis Baer, one of the promising in-
stitutions of 'the Southwest — locating its site east of the city
between First and Second streets, both lots and acreage having
been donated with the usual Southern California liberality.
There, the following year, the main college building was erected ;
but in 1896 that structure and most of its contents were
destroyed by fire.
-^ Early in June, as ex-Mayor E. F. Spence was about to
leave for Europe, some enthusiasm was created in educational
circles by the announcement that he would deed certain prop-
erty, including the lot at the comer of Pearl and Sixth streets
(on which the Gates Hotel now stands), to the University of
Southern California for the establishing of a telescope on Mount
Wilson. The matter had been communicated to President M.
M. Bovard, who ordered a glass from the celebrated Cambridge
Cable Car, Running North on Broadway (Previously Fort Street), near Second
Early Electric Car, with Conductor James Gallagher (stiU in Service)
i887] The Great Boom 5^7
grinders, Alvan Clark & Sons. When President Bovard died,
Spence was too ill to arrange the details necessary to the further
carrying out of his plans ; the property that he had promised to
give remained part of his estate; and the great glass, when
ground, had to be resold, the University of Chicago becoming
the lucky purchaser. As all the scientific world knows, the
Carnegie Foundation at Washington some years later estab-
lished, to the extension of California's fame, the celebrated
Wilson telescopes on the mountain Spence once had in view.
Early in June, also, Smith & McPhee issued a directory of
Los Angeles. But two weeks afterward, George W. Maxwell
published another book of addresses with more than five
thousand additional names! The second directory listed over
eighteen thousand adults, from which fact it was estimated that
Los Angeles then had a population of quite sixty thousand.
In 1887, Mrs. Charlotte LeMoyne Wills, wife of the attor-
ney, John A. Wills, and daughter of Dr. Francis Julius LeMoyne
(who in 1876 erected at Washington, Pennsylvania, the first
modem crematory in the world, notwithstanding that he was
denied permission by the cemetery authorities there and was
compelled to construct the furnace on his property outside of
the town) , inspired the establishing here of what is said to have
been the second crematory in the United States and certainly
the first built west of the Rocky Mountains. It was opened
at Rosedale Cemetery by the Los Angeles Crematory Society,
which brought to the Coast an incinerating expert. Dr. W.
LeMoyne Wills, a son, was one of the leading spirits in the en-
terprise and among the first directors of the local organization.
The first cremation occurred in June; and the first body so
disposed of was that of the wife of Dr. O. B. Bird, a homeo-
pathic physician. The experiment stirred up a storm of
adverse, as well as of favorable criticism.
The brothers Beaudry were interested, doubtless through
their undeveloped hill-property, in organizing the Temple
Street Cable Railway, running from the foot of Temple Street
at Spring out Temple as far west as Union Avenue, with cars
operated every ten minutes. The Company had an office at
568 Sixty Years in Southern California [1887
No. 10 Court Street, and the Directors were: Prudent Beaudry,
Victor Beaudry, Walter S. Maxwell, E. T. Wright, the surveyor,
Octavius Morgan, Ralph Rogers, Thomas Stovell, John Milner
and E. A. Hall.
About July, the trustees of James Lick sold Santa Catalina
Island to George R. Shatto (who founded Avalon' — at first
giving it his name — and after whom Shatto Street is called),
the price fixed upon being one hundred and fifty thousand
dollars, Shatto making a partial payment; whereupon the
latter agreed to resell the island to an English syndicate.
Failure to find there the store of minerals they expected,
however, led the English bankers to refuse the property; and
in 1892, after a friendly suit had reestablished the title of the
Lick trustees, they disposed of that part of the estate (for about
the same price offered Shatto), to William, J. B. and Hancock
Banning — sons of my old friend, Phineas Banning — the three
forming the Santa Catalina Island Company. Several years
later, George S. Patton was admitted as a partner. Little by
little Catalina became a favorite resort, although it was years
before there was patronage enough to warrant a daily steamer
service. In the summer of 1887, for example, at the height
of the Boom, William Banning, manager of the Wilmington
Transportation Company, ran the steamer Falcon (whose
Captain was J. W. Simmie) only once every seven or eight days.
Then the vessel used to leave San Pedro wharf at one o'clock
in the afternoon and return the next day in time to connect with
the three o'clock train for Los Angeles. The fare for the
round trip was four dollars.
The year 1887 witnessed the completion of the Arcadia Hotel
at Santa Monica, named after Dona Arcadia, wife of Colonel
R. S. Baker. It was built on a bluff, was four stories high and
had a great veranda with side wings ; and with its center tower
and cupola was more imposing than any hotel there to-day.
Under the proprietorship of J. W. Scott, the Arcadia became one
of the first fine suburban hotels in Southern California.
As late as 1 887 there was no passenger service between the
'Largely destroyed by fire, November 29th, 1915.
i887] The Great Boom 569
city and Santa Monica from six to seven o'clock in the evening,
though I cannot say just how many trains ran during the day.
I am sure, however, that there were not many. Merchants
spending their summers at the beach were more inconvenienced
through this lack of evening service than at any other time ; and
after repeated complaints, a coach was hooked onto a freight
train. Later, the Board of Trade objected to this slow method,
and arrangements were made for another passenger train.
Speaking of Santa Monica in the late eighties, I am reminded
of a gravity railroad, somewhat on the principle of the present-
day roller-coaster, which was opened near the Arcadia Hotel
and as a novelty was a great success. The track was not more
than fifteen feet above the ground at its highest point of eleva-
tion— just sufficient to give the momentum necessary for an
undulating movement.
As the final sequence to the events of three or four preceding
years, Los Angeles, at the time when I left for Europe, had
already advanced beyond the threshold of her first really
violent "boom;" and now symptoms of feverish excitement
were everywhere noticeable in Southern California. The basis
of real estate operations, heretofore sane enough, was quickly
becoming unbalanced, a movement that was growing more and
more intensified, as well as general ; and as in the case of a mighty
stream which accumulates overwhelming power from many
feeders, there was a marshalling, as it were, in Los Angeles of
these forces. The charms of climate and scenery (widely ad-
vertised, as I have said, at the Philadelphia Centennial and,
later, through the continuous efforts of the first and second
Chambers of Commerce and the Board of Trade), together
with the extension of the Southern Pacific to the East and the
building of the Santa Fe Railroad, had brought here a class
of tourists who not only enjoyed the winter, but ventured to
stay through the summer season; and who, having remained,
were not long in seeking land and homesteads. The rapidly-
increasing demand for lots and houses caused hundreds of men
and women to enter the local real-estate field, most of whom
were inexperienced and without much responsibility. When,
570 Sixty Years in Southern California [1887
therefore, the news of their phenomenal activity got abroad, as
was sure to be the case, hordes of would-be speculators — some
with, but more without knowledge of land-manipulation, and
many none too scrupulous — rushed to the Southland to invest,
wager or swindle. Thousands upon thousands of Easterners
swelled the number already here ; dealers in realty sprang up like
mushrooms. It was then that the demand for offices north of
First Street, exceeding the supply, compelled many an agent
unwillingly to take accommodations farther south and brought
about much building, even to — Second Street! It also hap-
pened that a dozen or more competitors occupied a single
store-room. Selling and bartering were carried on at all hours
of the day or night, and in every conceivable place; agents,
eager to keep every appointment possible, enlisted the services
of hackmen, hotel employees and waiters to put them in touch
with prospective buyers; and the same properties would often
change hands several times in a day, sales being made on the
curbstone, at bars or restaurant tables, each succeeding
transfer representing an enhanced value. Although I was
abroad during the height of this period, psychologically so
interesting, newspapers, letters and photographs from home —
supplemented, on my return, by the personal narratives of
friends — supplied me with considerable information of the craze.
As I have already remarked, the coming of the Santa Fe —
as well as the ensuing railroad war — was a very potent factor
in this temporary growth and advance in values ; and soon after
the railroad's advent, a dozen towns had been laid out on the
line between Los Angeles and San Bernardino, the number
doubling within a few months. Indeed, had the plan of the
boomers succeeded, the whole stretch between the two cities
would have been solidly built up with what in the end proved,
alas! to be but castles in the air. Wherever there was acreage,
there was room for new towns; and with their inauguration,
thousands of buyers were on hand to absorb lots that were
generally sold on the installment plan. More frequently than
otherwise, payments became delinquent and companies "went
broke ; " and then the property reverted to acreage again. This
i887] The Great Boom 57 1
sometimes led to serious complications, especially when the con-
tract between the landowner and the so-called syndicate allowed
the latter to issue clear title to those who paid for their lots.
In such cases, the acreage when recovered by the original owner
would be dotted here and there with small possessions ; and to re-
instate his property was, as a rule, no easy task. This, of course,
refers to the failures of which there were more than enough ; on
the other hand, many of the towns inaugurated during the
Boom period not only have survived and prospered, but have
become some of our most attractive and successful neighbors.
If every conceivable trick in advertising was not resorted
to, it was probably due to oversight. Bands, announcing
new locations, were seen here and there in street cars, hay and
other wagons and carriages (sometimes followed by fantastic
parades a block long) ; and for every new location there was
promised the early construction of magnificent hotels, theaters
or other attractive buildings that seldom materialized. When
processions filled the streets, bad music filled the air. Elephants
and other animals of jungle and forest, as well as human freaks
— the remnants of a stranded circus or two — were gathered into
shows and used as magnets ; while other ingenious methods were
often invoked to draw crowds and gather in the shekels. The
statements as to climate were always verified, but in most other
respects poor Martin Chuzzlewit's experience in the Mississippi
town of Eden affords a rather graphic story of what was fre-
quently in progress here during the never-to-be-forgotten days
of the Boom. As competition waxed keener, dishonest methods
were more and more resorted to ; thus schemers worked on the
public's credulity and so attracted many a wagon-load of people
to mass-meetings, called ostensibly for the purpose of advancing
some worthy cause but really arranged to make possible an
ordinary sale of real estate. An endless chain of free lunches,
sources of delight to the hobo element in particular, drew not
only these chronic idlers but made a victim of many a worthier
man. Despite all of this excitement, the village aspect in some
particulars had not yet disappeared : in vacant lots not far from
the center of town it was still not unusual to see cows content-
572 Sixty Years in Southern California I1887
edly chewing their cud and chickens scratching for a Hving.
In 1889, however, the Council governed this feature of domestic
life by ordinance, and thenceforth there was less of the "cock's
shrill clarion."
Extraordinary situations arose out of the speculative mania,
as when over-ambitious folks, fearful perhaps lest they might
be unable to obtain comer- and other desirably-situated lots,
stationed themselves in line two or three days before the
date of anticipated land-sales; and even though quite twenty
selections were frequently the limit to one purchase, the
more optimistic of our boomers would often have two or
three substitutes waiting in a line extending irregularly far
down the sidewalk and assuming at night the appearance of
a bivouac. I have heard it said that as much as a hundred
dollars would be paid to each of these messengers, and that the
purchaser of such service, apprehensive lest he might be sold out,
would visit his representative many times before the eventful
day. Later, this system was improved and official place-
numbers were given, thus permitting people to conduct their
negotiations without much loss of time.
So little scientific consideration was given to actual values
that they were regulated according to calendar and clock; lots
in new subdivisions remaining unsold were advertised to ad-
vance to certain new prices at such and such an hour, on such
and such a day. After these artificial changes, investors
would gleefully rub their hands and explain to the downcast
outsider that they had "just gotten in in time;" and the down-
cast outsider, of whom there were many, yielding after repeated
assaults of this kind, would himself become inoculated with the
fever and finally prove the least restrained boomer of them all.
From what I read at the time and heard after my return, I may
safely declare that during the height of the infection, two-thirds
of our population were, in a sense, more insane than sane.
Syndicates, subdivisions and tracts: these were the most
popular terms of the day and nearly everybody had a finger in
one or the other pie. There were enough subdivisions to accom-
modate ten million people; and enough syndicates to handle the
1887] The Great Boom 573
affairs of a nation. And talking about syndicates : the disagree-
ment of members themselves as to values frequently prevented
the consummation of important sales and resulted in the loss of
large profits to the objectors as well as to their associates. In
many a well-authenticated case, the property remained on the
owners' hands until it became almost worthless.
Wide-awake syndicates evolved new methods, one of which
— the lottery plan — became popular. A piece of land would
be prepared for the market ; and after the opening of streets, as
many chances would be sold as there were lots in the tract.
On the eventful day, the distribution took place in the presence
of the interested and eager participants, each of whom made
a selection as his number was drawn. To increase the at-
tractiveness of some of these offers, cottages and even more
elaborate houses were occasionally promised for subsequent
erection on a few lots. The excitement at many of these events,
I was informed, beggared description. Among others sold in
this manner at the beginning, or possibly even just before the
Boom, were the Williamson Tract, beginning at the comer of
Pico and Figueroa streets and once the home-place of the For-
mans, and the O. W. Childs orchard on the east side of Main
Street and rimning south from what is now about Eleventh.
Both of these drawings took place in Turnverein Hall, and the
chances sold at about three hundred and fifty dollars each.
Tricksters, of whom at such times there are always enough,
could exercise their mischievous proclivities ; and the unwary one,
who came to be known as the tenderfoot, was as usual easily
hoodwinked. Land advertised as having "water privileges"
proved to be land under water or in dry creeks ; land described as
possessing scenic attractions consisted of — mountains and
chasms ! So situated were many of these lots that no use what-
ever could be made of them ; and I presume that they are with-
out value even now. One of the effects of subdividing a good
part of the ten thousand or more acres of agricultural land in the
city then irrigated from the zanjas was both to reduce the calls
for the service of the city Zanjero, and to lessen considerably
the importance and emoluments of his office.
574 Sixty Years in Southern California [1887
Advertisers tried to outdo themselves and each other in
original and captivating announcements; with the result that,
while many displayed wit and good humor, others were ridicu-
lously extravagant. The Artesian Water Company came onto
the market with three hundred acres of land near Compton and
the assurance that "while the water in this section will be
stocked, the stock will not be watered." Alvan D. Brock,
another purveyor of ranches, declared :
I mean business, and do not allow any alfalfa to grow
under my feet.
A. F. Kercheval, the poet, to whom I have already referred,
relieved himself of this exuberance regarding the Kercheval
Tract (on Santa Fe Avenue, between Lemon and Alamo
streets) :
HE OR SHE
That Hesitates is Lost !
An axiom that holds good in real estate, as well as in
affairs of the heart.
Selah!
Another advertisement read as follows:
HALT! HALT! HALT!
Speculators and Homeseekers, Attention!
|8o,ooo — Eighty Thousand Dollars — $80,000
Sold in a Day at the Beautiful
McGarry Tract
Bounded by Ninth and Tenth and Alameda Streets.
Come Early, before they are All Gone !
Still another was displayed:
Boom ! Boom !
ARCADIA!
Boom! Boom!
i887] The Great Boom 575
And now and then, from a quarter to a full page would be
taken to advertise a new town or subdivision, with a single
word — the name of the place — such as
RAMIREZ!
Vernon and Vernondale were names given to subdivisions
on Central Avenue near Jefferson Street. Advertising the
former, the real-estate poet was called into requisition with
these lines:
Go, wing thy flight from star to star.
From world to luminous world as far
As the universe spreads its flaming wall,
Take all the pleasure of all the spheres,
And multiply each through endless years,
One Winter at Vernon is worth them all !
while, in setting forth the attractions of the Lily Langtry
Tract, the promoter drew as follows from the store of English
verse :
Sweet Vernon, loveliest village of the plain,
Where health and plenty cheers the laboring swain.
Where smiling Spring its earliest visit paid.
And parting Summer's lingering blooms delayed ;
concluding the announcement with the following lines char-
acteristic of the times:
Catch on before the T^hole country rushes to Vernondale !
Every man who wishes a home in Paradise should locate in this,
the loveliest district of the whole of Southern California.
576 Sixty Years in Southern California [1887
This is where the orange groves are loveliest !
This is where the grapes are most luxuriant !
This is where the vegetation is grandest!
This is where the flowers are prettiest !
With the Boom affecting not only Los Angeles but also
each acre of her immediate vicinity, Pasadena and the district
lying between the two towns took on new life. Five thousand
inhabitants boasted a million dollars in deposits and a couple
of millions invested in new buildings; while "gilt-edged Ray-
mond," a colony surrounding the Raymond Hotel, became a
bustling center. In March, George Whitcomb laid out Glendora,
naming it (with the use of a couple of additional letters) after
his wife, Ledora; and at the first day's sale, he auctioned off
three hundred lots. In December, the old-established town
of Pomona was incorporated. Whittier, started by Quakers
from Indiana, Iowa and Illinois, and christened in honor of
the New England poet, began at this time with a boom, two
hundred thousand dollars' worth of property having been sold
there in four months. This prosperity led one newspaper to
say with extreme modesty:
Whittier is the coming place! It will dwarf Monrovia and
eclipse Pasadena. Nothing can stop it! The Quakers are
coming in from all over the United States ;
and another journal contained an advertisement commencing
as follows:
WHITTIER! WHITTIER!! WHITTIER!!!
Queen of the Foothills and Crown of the San Gabriel Valley.
I. W. Lord established Lordsburg — or at least an elaborate
hotel there, for in those days a good hotel was half of a town;
and when Lordsburg slumped, he sold the building to a colony
of Dunkers for a college. Nadeau Park was projected as a
town at the junction of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe's
Ballona road and the Southern Pacific. Santa Ana, too, after
i887] The Great Boom 577
its sale in June of over eighty thousand dollars' worth of land,
came forward in the summer with this confident salutation:
THIS IS PURE GOLD!!!
Santa Ana,
The Metropolis of Southern California's Fairest VaUey!
Chief Among Ten Thousand, or the One
Altogether Lovely!
Beautiful! Busy! Bustling! Booming! It
Can't be Beat!
The town now has the biggest kind
of a big, big boom.
A Great Big Boom! And you
Can Accumulate Ducats by Investing!
FuUerton was started in July, when ninety-two thousand
dollars changed hands within half a day; and conditions favor-
ing the young community, it survived. Rivera, in the Upper
Los Nietos Valley, also then came into being. The glories
of Tustin (founded in 1 867 by Columbus Tustin, but evidencing
little prosperity until twenty years later) were proclaimed
through such unassuming advertisements as this:
TUSTIN
THE BEAUTIFUL
Unexcelled in charm and loveliness.
An Earthly Eden Unsurpassed in
Wealth of Flower and Foliage.
However, Imagination Cannot Conceive It:
It must be seen to be realized,
supplemented by the following versification :
When the Angel of Peace to Earth first descended,
To bless with his presence the children of men,
'Mid the fairest of scenes his pathway e'er tended.
And unto his smile the glad earth smiled again.
J7
578 Sixty Years in Southern California [1887
He joyed in the fragrance of orange and roses,
And loved 'mid their glances to linger or roam,
And he said: "Here in Tustin, where Beauty reposes,
I also will linger or build me a home!"
In April, Jonathan S. Slauson and a company of Los Angeles
capitalists laid out and started the town of Azusa, on a slope
eight hundred feet high in a rich and promising country. Not
so far away was Palomares, announced through the following
reassuring poster :
Grand Railroad Excursion and Genuine
AUCTION SALE!
No ChenanekinU
Thursday, June 7, 1887.
Beautiful Palomares, Pomona Valley!
Lunch, Coffee, Lemonade, and Ice Water Free!
Full Band of Music.
And here it may not be without interest to note the stations
then passed in making such an excursion from Los Angeles to
the new town : Commercial Street, Garvanza, Raymond, Pasa-
dena, Lamanda Park (named, Henry W. O'Melveny tells me,
after Amanda, wife of L. J. Rose), Santa Anita, Arcadia,
Monrovia, Duarte, Glendora, San Dimas and Lordsburg. Pro-
videncia rancho, consisting of seventeen thousand acres of
mountain and valley, was opened up in 1887 and the new tov/n
of Burbank was laid out ; J. Downey Harvey, J. G. Downey's heir,
and David Burbank, the good-natured dentist and old-timer,
then living on the site of the Burbank Theater (once the
orchard of J. J. Warner), being among the directors. About
the same time, twelve thousand acres of the Lankershim rancho,
adjoining the Providencia, were disposed of. Sixty-five dollars
was asked for a certificate of stock, which was exchangeable
later for an acre of land. Glendale was another child of the
Boom, for the development of which much dependence was
i887] The Great Boom 579
placed on a new motor railroad. Rosecrans and its Addition
were two other tracts relying on improved facilities for com-
municating with Los Angeles. Under the caption, Veni, Vidi,
Vicil a motor road was promised for service within ninety days ;
and lots, from one hundred dollars up, were then to be advanced
five hundred per cent! Excursions, accompanied by Colonel
Bartlett's Seventh Infantry Band, to "magnificent Monte Vista,
the Gem of the Mountains! the Queen of the Valley!" near
San Fernando, fifteen miles from Los Angeles, were among
the trips arranged.
Speaking of the Boom, I recall an amusing situation such
as now and then relieved the dark gloom of the aftermath.
When a well-known suburb of Los Angeles was laid out, some-
one proposed that a road be named Euclid Avenue ; whereupon
a prominent citizen protested vigorously and asked what Mr.
Euclid had ever done Jar Southern California?
During 1887, and at the suggestion of George E. Gard,
many neighboring towns — a number of which have long since
become mere memories — donated each a lot, through whose sale
a Los Angeles County exhibit at the reunion of the Grand
Army of the Republic was made possible; and among these
places were Alosta, Gladstone, Glendora, Azusa, Beaumont,
Arcadia, Raymond, San Gabriel, Glendale, Burbank, Lamar's
Addition to Alosta, Rosecrans, St. James, Bethune, Mondon-
ville, Olivewood, Oleander, Lordsburg, McCoy's' Addition to
Broad Acres, Ivanhoe, New Vernon, Alta Vista, Nadeau Park,
Bonita Tract, San Dimas, Port Ballona, Southside, Ontario,
Walleria and Ocean Spray. When the lots were sold at
Armory Hall, some ten thousand dollars was realized — twelve
hundred and seventy-five dollars, paid by Colonel Banbury
for a piece of land at Pasadena, being the highest price brought.
Not even the celebrity given the place through the gift of a lot
to the Grand Old Man of England saved Gladstone; and St.
James soon passed into the realms of the forgotten, notwith-
standing that one hundred and fifty vehicles and five hundred
people were engaged, in June, in caring for the visitors who
'Bearing the name of Frank McCoy, who died on March 4th, 1915.
580 Sixty Years in Southern California [1887
made their way to the proposed town-site, five miles from
Anaheim, and bought, when there, forty thousand dollars'
worth of property in a few hours.
Ben E.Ward — a good citizen whose office was in the re-
novated municipal adobe — operated with Santa Monica realty
during the Boom, somewhat as did Colonel Tom Fitch in the
cradle days of the bay city. He ran private trains and sold acre
and villa lots, and five- and ten-acre farms, for ten per cent, of
the price "at the fall of the hammer;" the balance of the first
quarter payable on receipt of the agreement, and the other
payments in six, twelve and eighteen months. On one occasion
in June, Ward was advertising as follows :
HO, FOR THE BEACH!
To-morrow, To-morrow!
Grand Auction Sale at
Santa Monica.
350— Acres— 350
One of the Grandest Panoramic Views the Human Eye ever
rested upon, including Ballona, Lake and Harbor, with its out-
going and in-coming vessels, the Grand Old Pacific, the hand-
some new Hotel Arcadia, while in the distance may be seen
Los Angeles, the Pride of All, and the coming city of two hun-
dred thousand people.
Long Beach came in for its share of the Boom. In July,
H. G. Wilshire (after whom, I believe, Wilshire Boulevard
was named), as general manager of the new hotel at that
place, offered lots at one hundred and fifty dollars and upward,
advertising under the caption, "Peerless Long Beach!" and
declaring that the place was "no new settlement, but a pros-
perous town of two thousand people," to be "reached without
change of cars." The hotel was to be doubled in size, streets
were to be sprinkled and bathhouses — with hot and cold
water — were to be built. One of the special attractions prom-
ised was even a billiard-room for ladies! But the hotel was
i887i The Great Boom 581
afterward destroyed by fire, and Long Beach dwindled away
until, in 1890, it had scarcely a population of five hundred.
Besides the improving of Santa Monica and the expanding of
San Pedro, several harbor projects were proposed in the days of
the Boom. About the first of June, 1887, Port Ballona —
formerly WiU Tell's — began to be advertised as "The Future
Harbor of Southern California" and the ocean terminus of the
California Central Railroad, which was a part of the Atchison,
Topeka & Santa Fe system. In August, thousands of people
assembled at the beach to celebrate the opening of La Ballona
Harbor. The enterprise had been backed by Louis Mesmer,
Bernard Mills, Frank Sabichi and others ; and Mesmer, General
Nelson A. Miles, ex-Governor Stoneman, Eugene Germain and
J. D. Lynch were among the speakers. A syndicate, headed
by J. R. Tuffree, which purchased the Palos Verdes rancho,
announced its intention of creating the harbor of Catalina at
Portuguese Bend. The syndicate was to build there a large
hotel named Borromea, while a IVIr. Kerckhoff, encouraged by
the prospect of a railroad around Point Firmin, was to erect
another huge hotel and lay out a watering place.
As the Boom progressed and railroads continued to advertise
Los Angeles, the authorities began to look with consternation
on the problem of housing the crowds still booked to come
from the East; and it was soon recognized that many prospec-
tive settlers would need to roost, for a while, as best they could
in the surrounding territory. The Hotel Splendid, an enter-
prise fostered by Hammel & Denker, proprietors of the United
States Hotel, was then commenced on Main Street, between
Ninth and Tenth, though it was never completed. Numerous
capitalists and business houses encouraged the proposition ; yet
the site was sold, but a single generation ago, to O. T. Johnson, a
local philanthropist, for about twenty-five thousand dollars — a
conservative estimate placing its present value at not much less
than two and a half millions.
But there are other indications of the strength, or per-
haps the weakness, of the Boom. In 1887, the total assessment
of the young City and County was three million dollars, or
582 Sixty Years in Southern California U887
about one-third that recorded for the longer-developed City
and County of San Francisco. In one day in July, real estate
valued at $664,000 was transferred; on another day in the
same month, $730,000 worth; and soon' after, in one day, prop-
erty to the value of $930,000 changed hands. From forty mil-
lion dollars in March, 1886, the wealth of the county jumped,
in just two years, to one hundred and three millions. So
many, indeed, were the purchasers of real estate in Los Angeles
a;t that time who soon left the town and were seldom or never
heard of again, and so many were the sales effected by proxy,
that even in August of 1887 one of the newspapers contained
over three pages of taxes listed on property whose possessors
were unknown.
During this wild excitement, few men of position or reputa-
tion who came to town escaped interrogation as to what they
thought of the Boom. "Phil" D. Armour, head of the Armour
Packing Company, was one who arrived late in July, and whose
opinion was immediately sought; and his answer indicated the
unbounded confidence inspired in the minds of even outsiders
by the unheard-of development of land values. "Boom — will
it break soon?" repeated Armour and proceeded to answer his
own query. "There is no boom to break! This is merely the
preliminary to a boom which will so outclass the present
activities that its sound will be as thunder to the cracking of a
hickory nut!" Nor was Armour the only one who was so
carried away by the phenomena of the times: San Francisco
watched Los Angeles with wonder and interest, marveling at
all she heard of the magic changes south of the Tehachepi,
and asking herself if Los Angeles might not be able to point the
way to better methods of city-building?
I have thus endeavored to give a slight idea of the lack of
mental poise displayed by our good people in the year 1887,
when the crop of millionaires was so great that to be one was
no distinction at all. But alas! the inevitable collapse came
and values tumbled fully as rapidly as they had advanced,
finding many (who but a short period before had based their
worth on investments figured at several times their value)
i887i The Great Boom 583
loaded with overwhelming debts and mortgages quite impossible
of Hquidation. Indeed, readjustments took years and years
to accomplish; and so it happened that many an imaginary
Croesus then became the bidder, often unsuccessful, for humble
employment. Just as is always the case, too, in periods such
as I have described, the depression, when it came was corre-
spondingly severe and sudden. Many of our greatest boomers
and speculators lost all hope; and more than one poor suicide
so paid the price of his inordinate craving for wealth.
To be sure, some level-headed people, acting more conserva-
tively than the majority, in time derived large profits from
the steady increase in values. Those who bought judiciously
during that period are now the men of wealth in Los Angeles ;
and this is more particularly true as to ownership in business
sections of the city. Even at the height of the Boom but
little property on any of the streets south of Fifth was worth
more than two hundred dollars a foot. Following the Boom,
there was an increase of building, much of it doubtless due to
contracts already entered into.
Incidental to the opening of the Southern Pacific Railroad's
route between the North and South by way of the coast, on
August 20th, a great railway /e/e was held at Santa Barbara, the
first through trains from San Francisco and Los Angeles meet-
ing at that point. A procession, illustrating the progress in
transportation methods from the burro pack and stage coach
to the modem train of cars, filed about the streets of the
old Spanish town. On the return of the Los Angeles excur-
sion train, however, a defective culvert near the Camulos
Ranch caused the cars, with one hundred and fifty passen-
gers, to plunge down an embankment — luckily with but few
casualties.
L. E. Mosher, who had much literary ability and is still
remembered as the author of the poem, The Strajided Bugle,
joined the Times staff in August and became prominently
identified with the conduct of that newspaper. Later, he left
journalism and entered on a business career in New York ; but
experiencing reverses, he returned to Los Angeles. Failing
584 Sixty Years in Southern California [1887
here, he at length committed suicide, to the deep regret of a
large circle of friends.
Late in August, the paving of Main Street, the first thorough-
fare of Los Angeles to be so improved, was begun, much to the
relief of our townspeople who had too long borne the incon-
venience of dusty and muddy roadways, and who, after heavy
rains the winter before, had in no uncertain fashion given
utterance to their disgust at the backward conditions. This
expression was the result of a carefully and generally organized
movement; for one morning it was discovered that all of the
principal streets were covered with mounds of earth resembling
little graves, into each of which had been thrust imitation
tombstones bearing such inscriptions as the following:
BEWARE OF QUICKSAND !
FARE FOR FERRYING ACROSS, 25 CENTS.
NO DUCK-HUNTING ALLOWED IN THIS PONd!
BOATS LEAVE THIS LANDING EVERY HALF-HOUR.
REQUIESCAT IN PACe!
This year, the Sued-Californische Post, which had been estab-
lished in 1874, began to appear as a daily, with a weekly edition,
the Germans in Los Angeles in the eighties representing no
mean portion of the burgher strength.
In 1887, the Turnverein-Germania sold to L. J. Rose and
J. B. Lankershim, for removal and renovation, the frame struc-
ture on Spring Street which for so many years had served it as a
home, and erected in its place a substantial brick building costing
about forty thousand dollars. Six or seven years afterward,
the society resold that property — to be used later as the Elks'
Hall — for one hundred thousand dollars ; then it bought the lot
at 319 and 321 South Main Street, and erected there its new
stone-fronted Turner Hall. On the occasion of the corner-
stone laying, on August 14th, 1887, when the Turnverein-
Germania, the Austrian Verein and the Schwabenverein
joined hands and voices, the Germans celebrated their advance-
ment by festivities long to be remembered, ex-Mayor Henry
T. Hazard making the chief address; but I dare say that the
i887] The Great Boom 585
assembly particularly enjoyed the reminiscences of the pioneer
President, Jake Kuhrts, who took his hearers back to the olden
days of the Round House (that favorite rendezvous which
stood on the very spot where the new building was to rise)
and pointed out how Time had tenderly and appropriately
joined the associations of the Past with those of the Present.
Turner Hall, with its restaurant, brought our German citizens
into daily and friendly intercourse, and long served their rapidly-
developing community.
How true it is that a man should confine himself to that
which he best understands is shown in the case of L. J. Rose,
who later went into politics, and in 1887 was elected State
Senator. Neglecting his business for that of the public, he
borrowed money and was finally compelled to dispose of his
interest in the New York house. Indeed, financially speak-
ing, he went from bad to worse; and the same year he sold his
magnificent estate to an English syndicate for $1,250,000, re-
ceiving $750,000 in cash and the balance in stock. The pur-
chasers made a failure of the enterprise and Rose lost $500,000.
He was almost penniless when on May 17th, 1899, he died —
a suicide.
Rose was an indefatigable worker for the good of the com-
munity, and was thoroughly interested in every public move-
ment. For years he was one of my intimate friends; and as I
write these lines, I am moved with sentiments of sadness and
deep regret. Let us hope that, in the life beyond, he is enjoy-
ing that peace denied him here.
The Los Angeles & San Gabriel Valley Railroad, begun the
previous year by J. F. Crank and destined to be absorbed by
the Santa Fe, was opened for traffic to Pasadena on September
17th by a popular excursion in which thousands participated.
With the increase in the number and activity of the Chinese
here, came a more frequent display of their native customs and
ceremonies, the joss house and the theater being early insti-
tuted. On October 21st, a street parade, feast and theatrical
performance with more or less barbarous music marked a
celebration that brought Mongolians from near and far.
586 Sixty Years in Southern California [1887
On October 24th, Cardinal Gibbons made his first visit to
Los Angeles — the most notable call, I believe, of so eminent
a prelate since my settling here.
One of the numerous fires of the eighties that gave great
alarm was the blaze of October 28th, which destroyed the
Santa Fe Railroad depot and with it a trainload of oil. The
conflagration proved obstinate to fight, although the good work
of the department prevented its spread. A host of people for
hours watched the spectacular scene.
The Raymond Hotel, commonly spoken of as belonging to
Pasadena although standing just inside the city to the south,
was completed in November; and catering exclusively to
tourists, its situation on an eminent knoll overlooking
the towns and orange-groves contributed to make it widely
famous. In April, 1895, it was swept by fire, to be rebuilt on
larger' and finer lines. The hotel La Pintoresca, on Fair Oaks
Avenue, burned four or five years ago, was another Pasadena
hostelry, where I often stopped when wishing to escape the
hurly-burly of city life. Now its site and gardens have been
converted into a public park.
In November, following the efforts made by the Board of
Trade to secure one of the veterans' homes projected by Con-
gress, the managers of the National Home for Disabled Volun-
teer Soldiers visited Los Angeles. A committee, representing
business men and the Grand Army, showed the visitors around ;
and as a result of the cooperation of General Nelson A. Miles,
Judge Brunson (representing Senator Jones) and others, three
hundred acres of the old San Vicente rancho were donated
by the Jones and Baker estates and the Santa Monica Land
and Water Company, as were also three hundred acres of the
Wolfskin Tract. Orchards were laid out, and barracks, chapel,
hospital and extra buildings for a thousand men erected. Near
this worthy institution, housing as it now does more than two
thousand veterans, has developed and prospered — thanks to
the patronage of these soldiers and their families — the little
town of Sawtelle.
In November, local Democratic and Republican leaders,
i887] The Great Boom 587
wishing to draft a new charter for Los Angeles, agreed on a
non-partisan Board consisting of William H. Workman,
Cameron E. Thom, I. R. Dunkelberger, Dr. Joseph Kurtz,
Walter S. Moore, Jeremiah Baldwin, General John Mansfield,
P. M. Scott, J. H. Book, Jose G. Estudillo, Charles E. Day,
Thomas B. Brown, W. W. Robinson, A. F. Mackey and George
H. Bonebrake; and the following 31st of May the Board was
duly elected. Workman was chosen Chairman and Moore,
Secretary; and on October 20th the result of their deliberations
was adopted by the City. In January, 1889, the Legislature
confirmed the action of the Common Council. The new charter
increased the number of wards from five to nine, and provided
for the election of a councilman from each ward.
As the result of an agitation in favor of Los Angeles, the
Southwest headquarters of the United States Army were trans-
ferred from Whipple Barracks, Arizona, about the beginning
of 1887, the event being celebrated by a dinner to Brigadier-
General Nelson A. Miles, at the Nadeau Hotel. Within less
than a year, however, General Miles was transferred to San
Francisco, General B. H. Grierson succeeding him at this post.
CHAPTER XXXIX
PROPOSED STATE DIVISION
1888-189I
BY agreement among property owners, the widening of
Fort Street from Second to Ninth began in February,
1888. This was not accompHshed without serious
opposition, many persons objecting to the change on the
ground that it would ruin the appearance of their bordering
lots. I was one of those, I am frank to say, who looked with
disfavor on the innovation; but time has shown that it was an
improvement, the widened street (now known as Broadway),
being perhaps the only fine business avenue of which Los
Angeles can boast.
Booth and Barrett, the famous tragedians, visited Los
Angeles together this winter, giving a notable performance in
Child's Opera House, their combined genius showing to greatest
advantage in the presentation of Julius Ccesar and Othello.
Toward the end of the seventies, I dipped into an amusing
volume. The Rise and Fall of the Mustache, by Robert J. Bur-
dette — then associated with the Burlington Hawkeye — little
thinking that a decade later would find the author famous and
a permanent resident of Southern California. ' His wife, Clara
Bradley Burdette, whom he married in 1899 and who is well
known as a clubwoman, has been associated with him in many
local activities.
George Wharton James, an Englishman, also took up his
residence in Southern California in 1888, finally settling in
' Dr. Burdette died on November 19th, 1914.
588
[1888-1891] Proposed State Division 589
Pasadena, although seven years previously he had been an
interested visitor in Los Angeles. James has traveled much in
the Southwest; and besides lecturing, he has written ten or
twelve volumes dealing in a popular manner with the Spanish
Missions and kindred subjects.
Through the publication by D. Appleton & Company of one
of the early books-of value dealing with our section of the State,
progress was made, in the late eighties, in durably advertising
the Coast. This volume was entitled, California cf the South;
and as a scientifically-prepared guide was written by two
fellow-townsmen, Drs. Walter Lindley and J. P. Widney.
Very shortly after their coming to Los Angeles, in April,
1888, I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. and Mrs. Tomas
Lorenzo Duque with whom I have since been on terms of
intimacy. Mr. Duque, a Cuban by birth, is a broad-minded,
educated gentleman of the old school.
Frederick William Braun established on May ist, at 127
New High Street, the first exclusively wholesale drug house in
Southern California, later removing to 287 North Main Street,
once the site of the adobe in which I was married.
The same season my brother, whose health had become
precarious, was again compelled to take a European trip; and
it was upon his return in September, 1890, that he settled in
Los Angeles, building his home at 1043 South Grand Avenue,
but a few doors from mine.
The coast-line branch of the Santa Fe Railroad was opened
in August between Los Angeles and San Diego.
W. E. Hughes has been credited with suggesting the second
and present Chamber of Commerce, and J. F. Humphreys is
said to have christened it when it was organized on October
15th. E. W. Jones was the first President and Thomas A.
Lewis the first Secretary. In addition to these, S. B. Lewis,
Colonel H. G. Otis, J. V. Wachtel (a son-in-law of L. J. Rose),
Colonel L R. Dunkelberger and William H. Workman are
entitled to a great deal of credit for the movement. So well
known is this institution, even internationally, and so much has
been written about it, that I need hardly speak of its remarkable
590 Sixty Years in Southern California [isss-
and honorable part in developing Southern California and all
of the Southland's most valuable resources.
Late in the fall the Los Angeles Theater, a neat brick edifice,
was opened on Spring Street, between Second and Third. At
that time, other places of amusement were the Childs or Grand
, Opera House, Mott Hall, over Mott Market — an unassuming
room without stage facilities, where Adelina Patti once sang,
and where Charles Dickens, Jr., gave a reading from his father's
bookstand Hazard's Pavilion at Fifth and Olive, built on
the present site of the Temple Auditorium by Mayor H. T.
Hazard and his associate, George H. Pike. During the Boom
especially and for a few years thereafter (as when in 1889,
Evangelist Moody held forth) , this latter place was very popular ;
and among celebrities who lectured there was Thomas Nast,
Harpers' great cartoonist, who had so much to do with bring-
ing Boss Tweed to justice. As Nast lectured, he gave inter-
esting exhibitions of his genius to illustrate what he had to say ;
and many of his sketches were very effective. Doubtless allud-
ing to the large audience gathered to do him honor, the artist
said: " Ladies and Gentlemen, I will now show you how to draw
a big house, " whereupon he rapidly sketched one.
On the morning of October 21st, the Los Angeles Times
created one of the most noted surprises in the history of
American politics, making public the so-called Murchison
letters, through which the British diplomat Lord Sackville
West, caught strangely napping, was recalled in disgrace from
his eminent post as British Minister to Washington. In 1882,
George Osgoodby located at Pomona. Though of English
grandparents, Osgoodby possessed a strong Republican bias;
and wishing to test the attitude of the Administration toward
Great Britain, he formed the scheme of fathoming Cleveland's
purpose even at the British Minister's expense. Accordingly,
on September 4th, 1888 — in the midst of the Presidential cam-
paign— he addressed Lord West, signing himself Charles F.
Murchison and pretending that he was still a loyal though
naturalized Englishman needing advice as to how to vote.
"Murchison" reminded his lordship that, just as a small
1891] Proposed State Division 591
State had defeated Tilden, so "a mere handful of naturaHzed
countrymen might easily carry California. " The British
Minister was betrayed by the plausible words ; and on Septem-
ber 13th he answered the Pomona farmer, at the same time
indicating his high regard for Cleveland as a friend of England.
Osgoodby gave the correspondence publicity through the
Times; and instantly the letters were telegraphed throughout
America and to England, where they made as painful an
impression as they had caused jubilation or anger in this
country. How, as a consequence, diplomatic relations between
America and England were for a while broken off, is familiar
history.
During the winter of 1888-89, Alfred H. and Albert K.
Smiley, twin brothers who had amassed a fortune through
successful hotel management at summer-resorts in the moun-
tains of New York, came to California and purchased about
two hundred acres" near Redlands, situated on a ridge command-
ing a fine view of San Timoteo Canon ; and there they laid out
the celebrated ' Canon Crest Park, more popularly known as
Smiley Heights. They also gave the community a public
library. On account of their connections, they were able to
attract well-to-do settlers and tourists to their neighborhood
and so contribute, in an important way, to the development and
fame of Redlands.
The City Hall was erected, during the years 1888-89, ^^ the
east side of Broadway between Second and Third streets on
property once belonging to L. H. Titus. As a detail indicating
the industrial conditions of that period, I may note that John
Hanlon, the contractor, looked with pride upon the fact that
he employed as many as thirty to forty workmen and all at one
time !
Another effort in the direction of separating this part of
California from the northern section was made in December,
1888 and here received enthusiastic support. General William
Vandever, then a representative in Congress from the Sixth
District, introduced into that body a resolution providing for
a State to be called South California. Soon after, a mass
592 Sixty Years in Southern California [isss-
meeting was held in Hazard's Pavilion, and a campaign was
opened with an Executive Committee to further the movement ;
but — California is still, and I hope will long continue to be,
a splendid undivided territory.
On January ist, 1889, Pasadena held her first Rose Tourna-
ment. There were chariot races and other sports, but the
principal event was a parade of vehicles of every description
which, moving along under the graceful burden of their beauti-
ful floral decorations, presented a magnificent and typically
Southern California winter sight. The tournament was so
successful that it has become an annual event participated in
by many and attracting visitors from near and far. It is
managed by a permanent organization, the Tournament of
Roses Association, whose members in 1904 presented Tourna-
ment Park, one of the City's pleasure-grounds, to Pasadena.
Once outdistanced by both Main and Spring streets, and
yet more and more rising to importance as the city grew. Fort
Street — a name with an historical significance — in 1889 was
ofiScially called Broadway.
Fred L. Baker, who reached Los Angeles with his father,
Milo Baker in 1874, designed in 1889, and when he was but
twenty-four years of age, the first locomotive built in Los
Angeles. It was constructed at the Baker Iron Works for the
Los Angeles County Railroad, and was dubbed the Providencia;
and when completed it weighed fifteen tons.
On February i6th, Jean Louis Sainsevain, everywhere
pleasantly known as Don Louis, died here, aged seventy-three
years.
I have spoken of L. J. Rose's love for thoroughbred horses.
His most notable possession was Stamboul, the celebrated
stallion, which he sold for fifty thousand dollars. At Rose
Meade, toward the end of the eighties, there were about a
hundred and twenty pedigreed horses; and at a sale in 1889
fifty of these brought one hundred and ninety thousand
dollars. This reminds me that early in April, the same year,
Nicolas Covarrubias (in whose stable on Los Angeles Street,
but a short time before, nearly a hundred horses had perished
iSgi] Proposed State Division 593
by fire) sold Gladstone to L. H. Titus for twenty-five hundred
dollars.
General Volney E. Howard died in May, aged eighty years,
just ten years after he had concluded his last notable public
service as a member of the State Constitutional Convention.
One of those who well illustrate the constant search for the
ideal is Dr. Joseph Kurtz. In the spring of 1889 he toured
Europe to inspect clinics and hospitals; and inspired by what
he had seen, he helped, on his return, to more firmly establish
the Medical College of Los Angeles, later and now a branch of
the University of California.
In 1889, I built another residence at 1051 South Grand
Avenue, and there we lived for several years. As in the case
of our Fort Street home, in which four of our children died,
so here again joy changed to sorrow when, on November i8th,
1890, our youngest daughter, Josephine Rose, was taken from
us at the age of eight years.
The Los Angeles Public Library was once more moved in
July from the Downey Block to the City Hall where, with
some six thousand books and about one hundred and thirty
members, it remained until April, 1906, when it was transferred
by Librarian Charles F. Lummis to the Annex of the Laughlin
Building. It then had over one hundred thousand volumes.
In the fall of 1908, it was removed to the new Hamburger
Building.
Colonel James G. Eastman, who arrived in Los Angeles
during the late sixties, associated himself with Anson Brunson
in the practice of law and, as a cultured and aristocratic member
of the Bar, became well known. For the centennial celebration
here he was chosen to deliver the oration; yet thirteen years
later he died in the County Poorhouse, having in the meantime
sunk to the lowest depths of degradation. Drinking himself
literally into the gutter, he lost his self-respect and finally
married a common squaw.
The early attempts to create another county, of which
Anaheim was to have been the seat, are known. In 1889, the
struggle for division was renewed, but under changed conditions.
3«
594 Sixty Years in Southern California [isss-
Santa Ana, now become an important town and nearer the
heart of the proposed new county, was the more logical center;
but although Anaheim had formerly strongly advocated the
separation, she now opposed it. The Legislature, however,
authorized the divorce, and the citizens chose Santa Ana as
their county seat; and thus on August ist. Orange County
began its independence.
Although the cable lines on Second and Temple streets were
not unqualified successes, J. F. Crank and Herman Silver in
1887 obtained a franchise for the construction of a double-
track cable railway in Los Angeles, and in 1889 both the
Boyle Heights and the Downey Avenue lines were in operation.
On August 3d, 1889, the Boyle Heights section of the Los Angeles
Cable Railway was inaugurated with a luncheon at the Power
House — invitations to which had been sent out by the Boyle
Heights Board of Trade, William H. Workman, President —
preceded by a parade of cars; and on November 2d, the official
opening with its procession of trains on the Downey Avenue
line culminated, at noon, with speech-making at the Downey
Avenue Bridge, and in the evening with a sham battle and fire-
works. Some old-timers took part in the literary exercises, and
among others I may mention Mayor Henry T. Hazard, Dr.
J. S. Griffin, General R. H. Chapman and the Vice-President
and Superintendent of the system, J. C. Robinson. The East
Los Angeles line started at Jefferson Street, ran north on Grand
Avenue to Seventh, east on Seventh to Broadway, north on
Broadway to First, east on First to Spring, north on Spring to
the Plaza, down San Fernando Street, then on the viaduct built
over the Southern Pacific tracks and thence out Downey
Avenue. The Boyle Heights line started on Seventh Street
at Alvarado, ran along Seventh to Broadway, up Broadway
to First and east on that street to the junction of First and
Chicago streets. Quite a million dollars, it is said, was invested
in the machinery and tracks — so soon to give way to the more
practicable electric trolley trams — to say nothing of the expendi-
tures for rolling stock; and for the time being the local trans-
portation problem seemed solved, although the cars first used
George W. Burton
Ben C. Truman
Charles F. Lummis
Charles Dwight Willard
Grand Avenue Residence (left), Harris Newmark, 1889
iSgi] Proposed State Division 595
were open, without glass windows, and the passengers in bad
weather were protected only by curtains sliding up and down.
To further celebrate the accomplishment, a banquet was given
Colonel J. C. Robinson on December i8th, 1889. Herman
Silver, to whom I have just referred, had not only an interest-
ing association as a friend of Lincoln, but was a splendid
type of citizen. He achieved distinction in many activities,
but especially as President of the City Council.
On November 4th, Bernard Cohn, one of the originators
of Hellman, Haas & Company (now Haas, Baruch & Com-
pany, the well-known grocers), and a pioneer of 1856, died.
During the late seventies and early eighties, he was a man of
much importance, both as a merchant and a City Father, sitting
in the Council of 1888 and becoming remarkably well-read in
the ordinances and decrees of the Los Angeles of his day.
Like Abbot Kinney, Dr. Norman Bridge, an authority on
tuberculosis, came to Sierra Madre in search of health, in 1890;
lived for a while after that at Pasadena, and finally settled in
Los Angeles. Five or six years after he arrived here. Dr. Bridge
began to invest in Califomian and Mexican oil and gas proper-
ties. Despite his busy life, he has found time to further
higher culture, having served as Trustee of the Throop Institute
and as President of the Southwest Museum, to both of which
institutions he has made valuable contributions; while he has
published two scholarly volumes of essays and addresses.
Thomas Edward Gibbon who, since his arrival in 1888, has
influenced some of the most important movements for the
benefit of Los Angeles, and whose activities have been so diver-
sified, in 1890 bought the Daily Herald, becoming for several
years the President of its organization and its managing editor.
During his incumbency, Gibbon filled the columns with mighty
interesting reading.
After living in Los Angeles thirty years and having already
achieved much, I. W. Hellman moved to San Francisco on
March 2d, 1890, and there reorganized the Nevada Bank.
Still a resident of the northern city, he has become a vital
part of its life and preeminent in its financial affairs.
596 Sixty Years in Southern California [isss-
Judge Walter Van Dyke was here in the early fifties, al-
though it was some years before I knew him; and I am told
that at that time he almost concluded a partnership with Judge
Hayes for the practice of law. He was Judge of the Superior
Court when the City of Los Angeles claimed title — ^while I was
President of the Temple Block Company — to about nine feet
of the north end of Temple Block. The instigator of this suit
was Louis Mesmer, who saw the advantage that would accrue
to his property, at the comer of Main and Requena streets, if
the square should be enlarged; but we won the case. A princi-
pal witness for us was Jose Mascarel, and our attorneys were
Stephen M. White and Houghton, Silent & Campbell. My
second experience with Judge Van Dyke was in 1899, when I
bought a lot from him at Santa Monica. This attempt to
enlarge the area at the junction reminds me of the days when
the young folks of that neighborhood used to play tag and
other games there. Baseball, here called town-ball, was another
game indulged in at that place.
Temple Block came to be known as Lawyer's Block because
the upper floors were largely given over to members of that
profession; and many of the attorneys I have had occasion to
speak of as being here after our acquisition of the building had
their headquarters there. Thus I became acquainted with Judge
Charles Silent who, like his partner, Sherman Otis Houghton,
hailed from San Jose in 1886, or possibly 1885, the two doubtless
coming together. Judge Houghton brought with him a reputa-
tion for great physical and moral courage ; and the two friends
formed with Alexander Campbell the law firm of Houghton,
Silent & Campbell. Judge Charles Silent, a native of Baden,
Germany (born Stumm, a name Englished on naturalization) ,
father of Edward D. Silent and father-in-law of Frank J.
Thomas, once served as Supreme Court Judge in Arizona, to
which office he was appointed by President Hayes ; and since his
arrival here, he has occupied a position of prime importance,
not only on account of his qualifications as an attorney but also
through the invaluable service he has always rendered this com-
munity. The judge now possesses a splendid orange orchard
i89i] Proposed State Division 597
near the foothills, where he is passing his declining years. In
the same way I had pleasant relations with the barrister, C.
White Mortimer,for a long time the popular English Vice-consul,
who came from Toronto. Among other attorneys whom it was
a pleasure to know were Aurelius W. Hutton; John D. Bicknell
(once a partner of Stephen M. White) ; J. H. Blanchard ; Albert
M. Stephens; General John Mansfield (who, by the way, was
the first Lieutenant-Governor under the Constitution of 1879) ;
Thomas B. Brown, District Attorney from 1880 until 1882;
Will D. Gould; Julius Brousseau; J. R. Dupuy, twice District
Attorney; and General J. R. McConnell. Most of these
gentlemen were here before i88o.' On the twentieth of Jan-
uary, 1889, M. L. Graff, a practicing attorney, reached Los
Angeles, and until my family broke up housekeeping, he was a
regular and welcome visitor in my home.
Ferdinand K. Rule came to Southern California in 1890
and soon after associated himself with the old Los Angeles
Terminal Railroad. He was a whole-souled, generous man,
and was henceforth identified with nearly every movement for
the welfare of his adopted city.
Charles Dudley Warner, the distinguished American author,
revisited Los Angeles in May, 1890, having first come here in
March, three years before, while roughing it on a tour through
California described in his book. On Horseback, published in
1888. On his second trip, Warner, who was editor of Harper's
Magazine, came ostensibly in the service of the Harpers, that
firm later issuing his appreciative and well-illustrated volume,
Our Italy, in which he suggested certain comparisons between
Southern California and Southern Europe; but the Santa Fe
Railroad Company, then particularly desirous of attracting
Easterners to the Coast, really sent out the author, footing
most if not all of the bills. Mrs. Custer, widow of the General,
was another guest of the Santa Fe; and she also wrote about
Southern California for periodicals in the East.
News of the death, in New York City, of General John C.
Fremont was received here the day after, on July 14th, and
caused profound regret.
59^ Sixty Years in Southern California ussfr-
In the fall, Henry H. Markham stood for the governorship
of California and was elected, defeating ex-Mayor Pond of San
Francisco by a majority of about eight thousand votes —
thereby enabling the Southland to boast of having again
supplied the foremost dignitary of the State.
After several years of post-graduate study in higher insti-
tutions of learning in Germany, Leo Newmark, son of J. P.
Newmark, in 1887 received his degree of Doctor of Medicine
from the University of Strassburg. He then served in leading
European hospitals, returning in 1890 to his native city, San
Francisco, where he has attained much more than local eminence
in his specialty, the diseases of the nerves.
The public pleasure-grounds later known as Hollenbeck
Park were given to the City, in 1890-91, by William H. Work-
man and Mrs. J. E. Hollenbeck, Workman donating two-thirds
and Mrs. Hollenbeck one-third of the land. Workman also
laid out the walks and built the dam before the transfer to the
City authorities. Mrs. Hollenbeck suggested the title, Work-
man-Hollenbeck Park; but Billy's proverbial modesty led him
to omit his own name. At about the same time, Mrs. Hollen-
beck, recognizing the need of a refuge for worthy old people,
and wishing to create a fitting memorial to her husband (who
had died in 1885), endowed the Hollenbeck Home with thirteen
and a half acres in the Boyle Heights district; to maintain
which, she deeded, in trust to John D. Bicknell, John M.
Elliott, Frank A. Gibson, Charles L. Batcheller and J. S.
Chapman, several valuable properties, the most notable being
the Hollenbeck Hotel and a block on Broadway near Seventh.
More than once I have referred to the Chino Ranch, long
the home of pioneer Isaac Williams. In his most extravagant
dreams, he could not have foreseen that, in the years 1890-91
there would grow on many of his broad acres the much-needed
sugar-beet ; nor could he have known that the first factory in the
Southland to extract sugar from that source would be erected
in a town bearing the name of Chino. The inauguration of this
important activity in Southern California was due to Henry T.
and Robert Oxnard, the last-named then being engaged in cane-
ispi] Proposed State Division 599
sugar refining in San Francisco. Henry T., who had previously
ventured in the beet-sugar field in Nebraska, while on the
Coast was impressed with the possibilities in our soil and climate ;
and after a survey of the State, he reached the conclusion that
of all California the South offered the conditions most fav-
orable to his plans. Accordingly, he entered into negotia-
tions with Richard Gird, then the owner of the Chino Ranch,
who made some preliminary experiments ; and the outcome was
the factory started there in the season of 1890-91, under the
superintendency of Dr. Fortius, a German agricultural chemist.
In this initial enterprise the Oxnards met with such success
that they extended their operations, in 1898 establishing a
second and larger factory in Ventura County, in what soon
came to be called Oxnard, Dr. Fortius again taking charge.
Five or six years after the Oxnards opened their Chino
factory, J. Ross Clark and his brother, Senator William A.
Clark, commenced the erection of a plant at Alamitos; and
in the summer of 1897, the first beets there were sliced, under
the superintendency of G. S. Dyer, now in Honolulu. Since
then, under a protective policy, several more refineries have
started up in the neighborhood of Los Angeles.
In January, 1891, the Home of Feace Society was organized
by the Hebrew ladies of Los Angeles, largely through the exer-
tions of Mrs. M. Kramer, who was the first to conceive the
idea of uniting Jewish women for the purpose of properly
caring for and beautifying the last resting-place of their dead.
Amos G. Throop, of Chicago, more familiarly known among
his friends and fellow-citizens as Father Throop, founded at
Pasadena in 1891 the institution at first called Throop Uni-
versity and now known as the Throop College of Technology,
giving it two hundred thousand dollars and becoming its first
President. The next year, when it was decided to specialize in
manual training and polytechnic subjects, the name was again
changed — remaining, until 1913, Throop Polytechnic Institute.
The Southern California Science Association, later called
the Southern California Academy of Science, was organized in
1 89 1 with Dr. A. Davidson as its first President, and Mrs. Mary
6oo Sixty Years in Southern California [isss-
E. Hart as Secretary. For five years, it struggled for existence;
but having been reorganized and incorporated in 1896, it has
steadily become a factor for intellectual progress.
The Friday Morning Club began its existence in April, 1891,
as one of the social forces in the city, many of the leading lec-
turers of the country finding a place on its platform; and in
1899 the Club built its present attractive home on Figueroa
Street.
As far as I was familiar with the facts, I have endeavored in
these recollections to emphasize the careers of those who from
little have builded much, and quite naturally think of William
Dennison Stephens whom I came to know through his associa-
tion as a salesman from 1891 until 1902 with M. A. Newmark
& Company, after which he engaged with J. E. Carr on Broad-
way, between Sixth and Seventh streets, in the retail grocery
business. Much of his success I attribute to honest, steady pur-
pose and a winning geniality. By leaps and bounds, Stephens
has advanced — in 1907 to the presidency of the Chamber of
Commerce; in 1908 to the grand commandership of Knights
Templars in California; in 1909 to the mayoralty of Los Angeles ;
and in 1910 to one of the advisory committee for the building
of the aqueduct. At present, he is the Congressman from the
Tenth Congressional District.
Three years before Congressman Stephens entered the
employ of the Newmarks, Robert L. Craig had just severed his
relations with them to form, with R. H. Howell of Louisiana,
the third wholesale grocery house to come to Los Angeles.
In the course of a few years, Howell & Craig sold out ; but Craig,
being young and ambitious, was not long in organizing another
wholesale grocery known as Craig & Stuart, which was suc-
ceeded by R. L. Craig & Company. At Craig's untimely
death, Mrs. Craig, a woman of unusual mental talent, took the
reins and, as one of the few women wholesale grocers in the
country, has since guided the destinies of the concern; still
finding time, in her arduous life, to serve the public as a very
wide-awake member of the Board of Education.
Four other names of those once associated with my sue-
1891] Proposed State Division 601
cessors and who have been instrumental in establishing impor-
tant commercial houses here are, P. A., a brother of M. A.
Newmark; E. J. Levy; Frank Humphreys, now deceased ; and
D. Wiebers. The first-named, for some years connected with
Brownstein, Newmark & Louis — now Brownstein & Louis —
inaugurated and is at the head of P. A. Newmark & Com-
pany; while Levy, Humphreys and Wiebers incorporated the
Standard Wooden Ware Company.
In 1 89 1, the Terminal Railroad was completed from Los
Angeles to East San Pedro, and rapid connection was thus
established between Pasadena and the ocean, the accomplish-
ment being celebrated, on November 14th, by an excursion.
The road ran via Long Beach and Rattlesnake, later known as
Terminal Island — a place that might become, it was hoped,
the terminus of one of the great transcontinental railroads;
and since the island is now the end of the San Pedro, Los
Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad, that hope has been realized.
It was in connection with this railway enterprise that Long
Beach made the great mistake of giving away the right of
thoroughfare along her ocean front.
CHAPTER XL
THE FIRST FIESTAS
I 892-1 897
ACCOMPANIED by my family, I traveled to Alaska, in
1892, going as far as Muir Glacier and visiting, among
other places, Metlakahtla (where we met Father Wil-
liam Duncan, the famous missionary and Arctander), Sitka,
Juneau and the Treadwell Mines, near which the town of
Treadwell has since developed. To-day, the tourist starts from
Seattle ; but we left Tacoma, sailing north about the seventh of
July. I found much to inspire me in that rather extreme por-
tion of the globe, where I was profoundly impressed with the
vast forests and colossal rivers of ice, so emblematic of Nature's
law of eternal change. Our party was especially fortunate in
witnessing the rare sight of huge masses of ice as, with sound
of thunder, they broke from the glacier and floated away,
brilliantly-tinted bergs, to an independent, if passing, existence.
Having arrived in the Bay of Sitka, our ship, the Queen of
the Pacific, struck a submerged rock. Instantly excitement and
even frenzy prevailed. Levi Z. Leiter, a member of the firm
of Field, Leiter & Company of Chicago, was so beside himself
with fear that he all but caused a panic, whereupon the Captain
ordered the First Mate to put the Chicagoan and his family
ashore. Leiter, however, was shamed by his daughter, Miss
Mary Victoria — afterward Lady Curzon and wife of the Viceroy
of India — who admonished him not to make a scene; and
having no desire to be left for a protracted stay in Sitka, he
came to his senses and the commotion somewhat abated.
602
[1892-18971 The First Fiestas 603
Meantime, not knowing how much damage had been done to
the vessel, I hastily proceeded to gather our party together, when
I missed Marco and only after considerable trouble found the
boy in the cabin — such is the optimism of youth — with a huge
sandwich in his hand, not in the least excited over the possible
danger nor in any mood to allow a little incident of that kind
to dissipate his appetite. When it became evident that the ship
had sustained no vital damage, the Captain announced that as
soon as a higher tide would permit we should proceed on our
way.
In 1892, Abbot Kinney and F. G. Ryan, disregarding the
craze for property along the bluffs of old Santa Monica, gave
practical evidence of their faith in the future of the sand dunes
hereabouts by buying an extensive strip of land on the ocean-
front, some of it being within the town of Santa Monica but
most of it stretching farther south. They induced the Santa Fe
to lay out a route to Ocean Park as the new town was to be
called ; and having erected piers, a bath house and an auditorium,
they built numerous cottages. Hardly was this enterprise well
under way, however, when Ryan died and T. H. Dudley
acquired his share in the undertaking. In 1901, A. R. Fraser,
G. M. Jones and H. R. Gage purchased Dudley's half interest;
and the owners began to put the lots on the market. One
improvement after another was made, involving heavy expendi-
tures; and in 1904, Ocean Park was incorporated as a city.
E. L. Doheny and a partner had the good luck to strike
some of the first oil found in quantities within the city limits.
They began operations in February on West State Street,
in the very residence section of the town; and at about one
hundred and sixty feet below the surface, they found oil enough
to cause general excitement. Mrs. Emma A. Summers, who
had been dealing in real estate since she came in 1881, quickly
sank a well on Court Street near Temple which in a short
time produced so lavishly that Mrs. Summers became one of
the largest individual operators in crude oil. She is now
known as the Oil Queen.
At the suggestion of Mrs. M. Burton Williamson, an inter-
6o4 Sixty Years in Southern California [189a-
esting open-air meeting of the Los Angeles Historical Society
was held on the evening of March 28th at the residence of Don
Antonio and Dona Mariana Coronel, near the comer of Central
Avenue and Seventh Street. Three hundred guests assembled
to enjoy the proverbial Spanish hospitality of this distinguished
couple, and to hear reports of the activities of various Los
Angeles societies. Don Antonio possessed, as is well known,
valuable historical and ethnological collections ; and some of his
choicest curios were that evening placed at the service of his
guests. Professor Ira More participated, presiding at a table
once used by the first Constitutional Governor, Echeandia, and
I still recall the manner in which Antonio chuckled when he
told us how he had swapped "four gentle cows" for the piece
of furniture; while, instead of a gavel, Senora Coronel had
provided a bell long used to summon the Indians to Mission
service.
As early as the height of the great Boom, Professor T. S. C.
Lowe (to whom I have referred in the story of an experiment
in making gas) advocated the construction of a railroad up the
mountain later officially designated Mt. Lowe; and almost
immediately financiers acted on the proposal and ordered the
route surveyed. The collapse of the Boom, however, then made
the financing of the project impossible; and the actual work of
building the road was begun only in 1892. On the Fourth
of July of the following year, the first car carrying a small party
of invited guests successfully ascended the incline; and on
August 23d the railway was formally opened to the public, the
occasion being made a holiday. In 1894, the Mt. Lowe As-
tronomical Observatory was built. At one time, the railway
was owned by Valentine Pejrton, my agreeable neighbor and
friend then and now residing on Westlake Avenue.
In June, 1893, the Los Angeles Post Office was moved from
its location at Broadway near Sixth Street to the National
Government Building at the southeast comer of Main and
Winston streets, which had just been completed at a cost
of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
Seized with the same desire that animated many thousands
i897] The First Fiestas 605
who journeyed to Chicago, I visited the World's Fair in the fall
of 1893. Everywhere I was impressed with the extraordinary
progress made, especially by Americans, since the display in
Philadelphia; and I was naturally proud of the exhibits from
California in charge of my fellow-townsman, Ben Truman.
Russell Judson Waters, a well-known banker and member of
Congress from the Sixth District between 1899 and 1903, came
from Redlands in 1894 and is another Southern Calif ornian
who has turned his attention to literary endeavor: his novel,
El Estranjero, dealing with past local life.
Joseph Scott, who has risen to distinction in the California
legal world, alighted in Los Angeles in June, having tried with-
out success to obtain newspaper work in Boston, in 1887,
although equipped with a letter of introduction from John
Boyle O'Reilly. In New York, with only two dollars in his
pocket, he was compelled to shoulder a hod; but relief came:
as Scott himself jovially tells the story, he was carrying mortar
and brick on a Tuesday in February, 1890, and but tvro
days later he faced a body of students at St. Bonaventura's
College in Allegany, New York, as instructor in rhetoric!
Within ten months after Scott came to Southern California, he
was admitted to practice at the Los Angeles Bar; and since then
he has been President of the Chamber of Commerce. He is
now a member of the Board of Education, and all in all his
services to the commonwealth have been many and important.
The existence of the Merchants' Association, which was
organized in 1893 with W. C. Furrey as President and William
Bien (succeeded the following year by Jacob E. Waldeck, son-
in-law of Samuel Hellman) as Secretary, was somewhat pre-
carious until 1894. In that year, Los Angeles was suffering a
period of depression, and a meeting was called to devise ways
and means for alleviating the economic ills of the city and also
for attracting to Los Angeles some of the visitors to the Mid-
winter Fair then being held in San Francisco. . At that meeting,
Max Meyberg, a member of the Association's executive com-
mittee, suggested a carnival; and the plan being enthusiasti-
cally endorsed, the coming occasion was dubbed La Fiesta de
6o6 Sixty Years in Southern California I1892-
Los Angeles. Meyberg was appointed Director-General; and
the following persons, among others, were associated with
him in the undertaking: Mayor T. E. Rowan, F. W. Wood, R.
W. Pridham, H. Jevne, J. O. Koepfli, Leon Loeb, H. T. Hazard,
Charles S. Walton and M. H. Newmark.
The Fiesta lasted from the loth to the 13th of April and
proved a delightful affair. The participants marched in cos-
tume to the City Hall during a meeting of the Council, usurped
the Government, elected a Queen — Mrs. O. W. Childs, Jr. —
to preside over the destinies of the City during the Fiesta and
communicated to everybody a spirit of uncontrollable en-
thusiasm based on a feeling of the most genuine patriotic
sentiment. The result was thoroughly successful, the carnival
bringing out the real Californian fellowship — whole-souled
and ringing true. Indeed, it is conceded by all who have seen
Los Angeles grow, that this first Fiesta and the resulting
strengthening of the Association have been among the earliest
and, in some respects, the most important elements contribu-
tory to the wonderful growth and development of our city. A
few evenings after the conclusion of the celebration, and while
the streets were brilliantly illuminated with Bengal fire, the
leaders again marched in a body, this time to the hall over Mott
Market, where they not only laid plans for the second Fiesta, but
installed J. O. Koepfli as President of the Merchants' Association.
So enthusiastic had the citizens of Los Angeles really be-
come that in the years 1895 and 1896 the Fiesta was repeated
and many prominent people supported the original committee,
assisting to make the second festival almost equal to the first.
Among these patrons were John Alton, Hancock Banning, W.
A. Barker, A. C. BiHcke, L. W. Blinn, W. C. Bluett, R. W.
Bumham, John M. Crawley, James Cuzner, J. H. Dockweiler,
T. A. Eisen, J. A. Foshay, John F. Francis, A. W. Francisco,
H. W. Frank, Dan Freeman, Mrs. Jessie Benton Fremont, W.
M. Garland, T. E. Gibbon, J. T. Griffith, Harley Hamilton,
R. H. Howell, Sumner P. Hunt, A. Jacoby, General E. P.
Johnson, John Kahn, F. W. King, Abbot Kinney, E. F. C.
Klokke, J. Kuhrts, Dr. Carl Kurtz, J. B. Lankershim, General
i897l The First Fiestas 607
C. F. A. Last, S. B. Lewis, H. Lichtenberger, Charles F. Lum-
mis, Simon Maier, D. C. McGarvin, John R. Mathews, James
J. Melius, L. E. Mosher, Walter S. Newhall, J. W. A. Off,
Colonel H. Z. Osborne, Colonel H. G. Otis, Madison T. Owens,
W. C. Patterson, Niles Pease, A. Petsch, John E. Plater, R.
W. Pridham, Judge E. M. Ross, F. K. Rule, Frank Sabichi,
J. T. Sheward, Colonel W. G. Schreiber, John Schumacher,
Professor P. W. Search, Edward D. Silent, Alfredo Solano,
George H. Stewart, Frank J. Thomas, D. K. Trask, Ben C.
Truman, I. N. Van Nuys, K. H. Wade, Stephen M. White,
Frank Wiggins, C. D. Willard, Dr. W. Le Moyne Wills, W. C.
Wilshire, H. J. Woollacott and W. D. Woolwine.
This second Fiesta brought into the local field two men then
unknown, but each destined to play an important part in the
affairs of Los Angeles. J. 0. Koepfli, President of the Mer-
chants' Association, and M. H. Newmark, Chairman of the
Finance Committee, selected Felix J. Zeehandelaar (a reporter
for the Los Angeles Herald during the short ownership of
John Bradbury) as financial and publicity agent ; with the result
that more than thirty thousand dollars was collected and
valuable advertising was secured. At that time, the Finance
Committee also discovered the undeveloped talent of Lynden
Ellsworth Behymer, since so well known as the impresario, who,
in managing with wonderful success the sale of tickets for the
various events, laid the foundation for his subsequent career.
Commencing with Adelina Patti, there have been few cele-
brities in the musical world that Behymer's enterprise has not
succeeded in bringing to Los Angeles ; his greatest accomplish-
ment in recent seasons being the booking of the Chicago Grand
Opera Company, in February, 1913, under a guarantee of
eighty-eight thousand dollars.
Second in chronological order among the larger societies
of women, and doubtless equal to any in the importance of its
varied activities, the Ebell Club was organized in 1894, in
due time providing itself with a serviceable and ornate home,
within which for years broad courses of departmental study
have been prosecuted with vigor.
6o8 Sixty Years in Southern California [1892-
After worshiping for more than fifteen years in the old
Synagogue on Fort Street, and five years more after that name
was changed to Broadway (during which period, from 1881
until I started, in 1887, on my second European trip, it was my
privilege to serve as President of the Congregation), the re-
formed Jews of Los Angeles built, in 1894, ^^e Temple B'nai
B'rith on the comer of Hope and Ninth streets. In the mean-
time, following the resignation of Dr. A. W. Edelman, in 1886,
Dr. Emanuel Schreiber for two years occupied the pulpit ; and
then Reverend A. Blum came from Galveston to succeed him.
From the early part of 1895, Rabbi M. G. Solomon held the
office until 1899. It was during his administration, it may be
interesting to observe, and while Herman W. Hellman was
President, that the present Temple was consecrated.
In 1894, Homer Laughlin, of Ohio, during a visit purchased
from Mrs. Mary A. Briggs the property on Broadway between
Third and Fourth streets, where she had lived. Three years
later, he moved to Los Angeles and began the erection of the
Homer Laughlin fire-proof building, adding to the same, in 1905,
a reinforced concrete annex.
At midnight, on April 17th, Don Ant6nio Franco Coronel
died at his home in Los Angeles, aged seventy-seven years. In
less than four months, his life-long friend, Don Pio Pico died
here — on September nth, aged ninety- three years.
The Belgian hare aberration was a spasmodic craze of the
nineties and when I remember what the little rabbit did to our
judgment then, it brings to mind the black-tulip bubble of
Holland though, in point of genuine foolishness, I should award
the prize to the former. A widely-copied newspaper article,
claiming for the flesh of the timid Belgian rodent extraordinary
qualities and merit, led first hundreds, then thousands, to rig
up hare-coops for the breeding of the animal, expecting to
supply the world with its much-lauded meat. Before long,
people abandoned profitable work in order to venture into the
new field, and many were those who invested thousands of
dollars in Belgian hare companies. During the wild excite-
ment attention was also given to the raising of hares for exhibi-
i897l The First Fiestas 609
tion, and fancy prices were paid for the choicest specimens.
At last, the bubble burst: the supply far exceeded the now-
diminishing demand and the whole enterprise collapsed.
A lively election in 1895 was that which decided the im-
mediate future of a suburb of Los Angeles where, on April
27th of the same year, Don Juan Warner, who had lived there
with his daughter, Mrs. Riibio, went to his rest. This was
University Place, in 1880 a mere hamlet, though three years
later it had a post ofSce of its own. In 1895, an effort was
made to annex the community, with Vernon, Rosedale and Pico
Heights; but the measure was defeated, and only on June 12th,
1899 was the college district annexed to Los Angeles. For
some years, the boundary line of the town at that point fol-
lowed such a course through house-lots that residents there,
still at home, often ate in the county and slept within the city !
The early nineties were full of the spirit of accomplishment,
and notwithstanding the failure of the Electric Homestead
Tract Association and its street car line, already described, a
successful electric railway system for Los Angeles was at
length installed. In 1892, a route was laid out to Westlake
Park, the company having been encouraged by a subsidy
of fifty thousand dollars pledged by owners of property most
likely to be affected by the service; and by 1895 the electric
traction system was so general that even the bob-tailed cars on
Main Street gave way to the new order of things. At this
early stage in the application of electricity to street cars, some
of the equipment was rather primitive. Wooden poles, for
example, were a part of the trolley; and as they were easily
broken, conductors were fined a dollar for any accident to
the rod with which they might have to do! Electricity —
when it was forthcoming at all — was only harnessed to impel the
vehicle ; but there were no devices for using the current to warm
the car, and instead of an electric light, an oil lamp, hung onto
the dashboard, faintly illuminated the soft roadbed of the
irregular tracks. The most active promoters of the improve-
ments of 1895 were the two brothers, William Spencer and
Thomas J. Hook, who operated mainly in the southwestern
6io Sixty Years in Southern California U892-
part of the city, developing that rather sparsely-settled district
and introducing what was the best and most handsome rolling
stock seen here up to that time.
B. F. Coulter, who from 1881 to 1884 had preached here as
a clergyman of the Christian Church, in 1895 built a place of
worship at his own expense, on Broadway near Temple Street,
costing twenty thousand dollars — no inconsiderable sum for
that time.
Sometime in March appeared the first issue of the Los
Angeles Record, a one-cent evening paper started by E. W.
Scripps as "the poor man's advocate. " It was really another
one of the many enterprising Scripps newspapers scattered
throughout the country and championing, more or less, Social-
istic principles; in accordance with which Scripps, from the
outset, distributed some of the stock among his working associ-
ates. At the present time, W. H. Porterfield is the editor-in-
chief, and W. T. Murdoch the editor.
Thomas J. Scully, a pioneer school teacher who came to
Los Angeles the same year that I did, died here in 1895. For
some time Scully was the only teacher in the county outside of
the city, but owing to the condition of the public treasury he
actually divided his time between three or four schools, giving
lessons in each a part of the year. After a while, the school-
master gazed longingly upon a lovely vineyard and its no less
lovely owner; and at last, by marrying the proprietress, he
appropriated both. This sudden capture of wife and inde-
pendence, however, was too much for our unsophisticated
pedagogue: Scully entered upon a campaign of intemperance
and dissipation ; his spouse soon expelled him from his comfort-
able surroundings, and he was again forced to earn his own
living with birch and book.
Inoffensive in the extreme, yet with an aberration of mind
more and more evident during twenty years, Frederick Merrill
Shaw, a well-informed Vermonter bom in 1827, shipped for
California as cook on the brig Sea Eagle and arrived in San
Francisco in September, 1849, where he helped to build, as he
always claimed, the first three-story structure put up there.
i897] The First Fiestas 6ii
Well-proportioned and standing over six feet in height, Shaw
presented a dignified appearance; that is, if one closed an eye
to his dress. Long ago, he established his own pension bureau,
conferring upon me the honor of a weekly contributor; and
when he calls, he keeps me well-posted on what he's been doing.
His weary brain is ever filled with the phantoms of great inven-
tions and billion-dollar corporations, as his pocketful of maps
and diagrams shows; one day launching an aerial navigation
company to explore the moon and the next day covering
California with railroad lines as thick as are automobiles in
the streets of Los Angeles.
On September 2ist, my brother, J. P. Newmark, to whom I
am so indebted, and who was the cause of my coming to Cali-
fornia, died at his home, in the sixty-ninth year of his age; his
demise being rather sudden. During the extended period of his
illness, he was tenderly nursed by his wife, Augusta; and I
cannot pay my sister-in-law too high a tribute for her devoted
companionship and aid, and her real self-sacrifice. Mrs.
Newmark long survived her husband, dying on January 3d,
1908 at the age of seventy-four.
The reader will permit me, I am certain, the privilege of
a fraternal eulogy: in his acceptance and fulfillment of the
responsibilities of this life, in the depth and sincerity of his
feeling toward family and friend, my brother was the peer of
any; in his patient, silent endurance of long years of intense
physical suffering and in his cheerfulness, which a manly
courage and philosophical spirit inspired him to diffuse, he was
the superior of most ; and it was the possession of these qualities
which has preserved his personality, to those who knew him
well, far beyond the span of natural existence.
In May, 1896, the Merchants' Association consolidated with
the Manufacturers' Association (of which R. W. Pridham was
then President), and after the change of name to the Merchants
& Manufacturers' Association, inaugurated the first local
exhibit of home products, using the Main Street store of Mey-
berg Brothers for the display. On August 1st, 1897, Felix
J. Zeehandelaar, later also Consul of the Netherlands, became
6i2 Sixty Years in Southern California [1892-
the stalwart, enthusiastic and now indispensable Secretary,
succeeding, I believe, William H. Knight.
This same year Major Ben. C. Truman, formerly editor of
the Star, together with George D. Rice & Sons established the
Graphic, which is still being published under the popular
editorship of Samuel T. Clover. In 1900, Truman was one of
the California Commissioners to the Paris Exposition. After
his foreign sojourn, he returned to Los Angeles and, with Harry
Patton, started a weekly society paper called the Capitol.
Rather recently, by the advantageous sale of certain property
early acquired, Ben and his good wife have come to enjoy a
comfortable and well-merited degree of prosperity. Clover
came to Los Angeles in 1901 ; was editor and publisher of the
Express for four years; and in 1905 started the Evening News,
continuing the same three years despite the panic of 1907.
A year previously, he purchased the Graphic, more than one
feature of which, and especially his "Browsings in an Old Book
Shop, " have found such favor.
W. A. Spalding, whose editorial work on Los Angeles news-
papers— dating from his association with the Herald in 1874,
and including service with both the Express and the Times —
in 1896 assumed the business management of his first love, the
Herald. After again toiling with the quill for four years, he
was succeeded by Lieutenant Randolph H. Miner.
The magnificent interurban electric system of Los Angeles
is indebted not a little to the brothers-in-law, General M. H.
Sherman and E. P. Clark — the former a Yankee from Vermont,
and the latter a Middle Westerner from Iowa — both of whom
had settled in Arizona in the early seventies. While in the
Territory, Sherman taught school and, under appointment by
Governor Fremont as Superintendent of Instruction, laid the
foundation of the public school system there. Both came to
Los Angeles in 1889, soon after which Sherman organized the
Consolidated Electric Railway Company. In 1896, the old
steam railroad — which about the late eighties had run for a year
or so between Los Angeles and the North Beach, by way of
Colegrove and South Hollywood — was equipped with electrical
i897] The First Fiestas 613
motor power and again operated through the enterprise of
Eli P. Clark, President of the Los Angeles Pacific Railroad
Company. Together, Sherman and Clark built an electrical
road to Pasadena, thus connecting the mountains with the
sea.
In 1896, I dissolved partnership with Kaspare Cohn, taking
over the hide business and, having fitted up a modest office
under the St. Elmo Hotel, revived with a degree of satisfaction
the name of H. Newmark & Company.
A notable career in Los Angeles is that of Arthur Letts who
in 1896 arrived here with barely five hundred dollars in his
pocket and, as it would appear, in answer to a benign Provi-
vidence. J. A. Williams & Company, after a brief experience,
had found the corner of Broadway and Fourth Street too far
south, and their means too limited, to weather the storm; so
that their badly-situated little department store was soon in
the hands of creditors. This was Letts' opportunity: obtain-
ing .some financial assistance, he purchased the bankrupt
stock. His instantaneous success was reflected in the improve-
ment of the neighborhood, and thereafter both locality and
business made rapid progress together.
Meredith P. Snyder, who became a resident in 1880 and
started business by clerking in a furniture store, in 1896 was
elected to the office of mayor, on a municipal water-works
platform.
During the presidential campaign of 1896, when the West
went wild over "16 to i," and it looked as if W. J. Bryan
would sweep aside all opposition here, an organization known
as the Sound Money League undertook to turn the tide.
George H. Stewart was elected President, the other members of
the Executive Committee being John F. Francis, Frank A. Gib-
son, R. W. Burnham and M. H. Newmark. So strenuous was
the campaign, and so effective was the support by the public,
that when the sun set on that memorable Tuesday in November,
Los Angeles was found to be still strong for sound principles.
Perhaps the most remarkable outpouring in the political his-
tory of the city took place during this period when business
6i4 Sixty Years in Southern California I1892-
men, regardless of previous party affiliations, turned out to
hear Tom Reed, the " Czar " of the House of Representatives.
It was in the Christmas season of 1896 that Colonel Griffith
J. Griffith so generously filled the stocking of Los Angeles with
his immensely important gift of Griffith Park, said to be, with
its three thousand and more diversified acres, magnificent
heights and picturesque roadways — some of which, with their
dense willow growth, remind me of the shaded lanes described
in earlier chapters — the second largest pleasure groiind in the
world.
On July 1st, 1897, the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad was ab-
sorbed by the Santa Fe; Charles W. Smith, the receiver, having
brought order out of chaos after the former road in 1895 had
met with disaster.
Dr. Henry S. Orme, H. W. O'Melveny, J. M. Griffith, J. W.
Gillette, A. L. Bath, J. M. Guinn, M. Teed, J. M. Elliott
and W. A. Spalding on August 2d met in the office of the Daily
Herald, in the Bradbury Block on Third Street, to consider the
organization of an Old Settlers' Society. At that meeting a
committee, consisting of Dr. J. S. Griffin, Henry W. O'Melveny,
Benjamin S. Eaton, H. D. Barrows, J. M. Guinn, Dr. PI. 8.
Orme, J. W. Gillette and myself was appointed to direct the
movement. On August loth, we selected the Los Angeles
County Pioneers of Southern California as the name of the
society and decided that eligibility should be limited to those
who had resided in the county twenty-five years. A public
meeting was held at the Chamber of Commerce on September
4th, 1897 and the twenty-five persons present signed the roll.
The first President chosen was Benjamin S. Eaton and the
first Secretary, J. M. Guinn.
Dr. William F. Edgar, who had resided here continuously
for over thirty years, died on August 23d, at the age of seventy-
three; a sword given to him by General Phil Kearney resting
among the floral tributes. The tenth of the following Novem-
ber witnessed the death of George Hansen, the surveyor,
whose body (in accordance with his expressed wish) was
cremated. On the same day, J. J. Ayers died.
1897] The First Fiestas 615
This year, when the town was full of unemployed, hundreds
of men were set at work to improve Elysian Park, a move sug-
gested by Judge Charles Silent.
Frank Walker, who had been here for a while in the middle
of the eighties and had gone away again, returned to Los
Angeles about 1897 and set himself up as a master builder.
While contracting for certain unique bungalows, his attention
was directed to the possibility of utilizing the power of the sun,
with the result that he soon patented a solar heater, similar to
those now extensively built into Southern California residences,
and organized a company for exploiting the invention.
CHAPTER XLI
THE SOUTHWEST ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
I 898-1905
A CLOUD, considerably larger than a man's hand, flecked
the skies at the dawn of 1898 and troubled many who
had been following the course of events in Cuba. So,
t90, like the thrill sent through the nation at the firing on Fort
Sumter, the startling intelligence of the destruction of the
United States battleship Maine electrified and united the peo-
ple. Along the Coast, intense excitement scarcely permitted
Westerners to keep themselves within bounds ; and instant was
the display of patriotic fervor. Southern Californians willingly
shouldering their share of the unavoidable war burdens.
On January 22d, John G. Nichols, several times Mayor
of Los Angeles and always a welcome figure on the streets,
died here at the age of eighty-five years.
Colonel Harrison Gray Otis, soldier. Union officer. Govern-
ment official in Alaska and President of the Los Angeles Times
publishing company, was appointed by President McKinley,
on May 27th, a Brigadier-General of the United States Volun-
teers, following which he was assigned to a command in the
Philippines, where he saw active service until honorably dis-
charged in 1899, after the fall of Malolos, the insurgent capital.
During General Otis's absence, his influential son-in-law, the
large-hearted, big man of affairs, Harry Chandler, Vice-Presi-
dent of the corporation, was general manager of the Times;
while L. E. Mosher was managing editor. In 1897, Harry
E. Andrews joined the Times staff, in 1906 becoming manag-
616
Isaias W. Hellman
Herman W. Hellman
Cameron E. Thorn
Ygnacio Sepulveda
Main Street, Looking North, Showing First Federal Building, Middle Nineties
r^^
First Santa Fe Locomotive to Enter Los Angeles
[1898-190S] The Southwest Archaeological Society 617
ing editor and infusing into the paper much of its character-
istic vigor. In 1899, Hugh McDowell, who had entered the
employ of the Times four years before, began his long edi-
torship of the Times' magazine, a wide-awalce feature which
has become more and more popular. During many years, Mrs.
Eliza A. Otis, the General's gifted wife, now deceased, also
contributed to both the Times and the Mirror. From the be-
ginning, the paper has been Republican and in every respect
has consistently maintained its original policies. Especially
in the fight for San Pedro harbor, it was an important element
and did much to bring the energetic campaign to a successful
termination.
Paul De Longpre, the French artist who made his mark,
when but eleven years old, in the Salon of 1876, was a dis-
tinguished member of a little group of Frenchmen arriving in
the late nineties. In 1901, he bought a home at Holl}rwood
and there surrounded himself with three acres of choicest
gardens — one of the sights of suburban Los Angeles — which
became an inspiration to him in his work as a painter of
flowers. De Longpre died in Hollywood, on June 29th, 191 1.
On August 23d, my excellent friend. Dr. John Strother
GrifiSn, for nearly fifty years one of the most efficient and
honored residents of Los Angeles, died here.
A career such as should inspire American youth is that of
Henry T. Gage (long in partnership with the well-known
bibliophile, W. I. Foley,) a native of New York who in 1877,
at the age of twenty-four, began the practice of law in Los
Angeles, to be elected, twenty-one years later, Governor of
California. A handsome man, of splendid physique — acquired,
perhaps, when he started as a sheep-dealer — he is also genial
in temperament, and powerful and persuasive in oratory; quali-
fications which led to his selection, I dare say, to second the
nomination at Chicago, in 1888, of Levi P. Morton for the Vice-
Presidency. Ex-Governor Gage's wife was Miss Fannie V.,
daughter of John Rains and granddaughter of Colonel Isaac
Williams.
April 27, 1899 was printed large and red upon the calendar
6i8 Sixty Years in Southern California U898-
for both Los Angeles and San Pedro, when the engineers,
desiring to commence work on the harbor in true spectacular
fashion, brought a load of quarried rock from Catalina to
dump on the breakwater site. President McKinley sent an
electric spark from the White House, intended to throw the
first load of ballast splashing into the bay ; but the barge only
half tilted, interfering with the dramatic effect desired. Never-
theless, the festivities concluded with the usual procession and
fireworks.
Movements of great importance making for a municipal
water-system occurred in 1899, the thirty years' contract
with the assigns of John S. Griffin, P. Beaudry, S. Lazard and
others having expired on July 226., 1898. An arbitration
committee, consisting of Charles T. Healey for the Company
and James C. Kays — long a citizen of importance and Sheriff
from 1887 to 1888 — for the City, failed to agree as to the
valuation of the Los Angeles City Water Company's plant,
whereupon Colonel George H. Mendell was added to the
board; and on May 12th, 1899, Kays and Mendell fixed their
estimate at $1,183,591, while Healey held out for a larger sum.
In August, the citizens, by a vote of seven to one, endorsed
the issuing of two million dollars of City bonds, to pay the
Water Company and to build additional equipment ; and the
water-works having been transferred to the municipality, five
commissioners were appointed to manage the system.
During August, 1899, the Reverend Dr. Sigmund Hecht
of Milwaukee took into his keeping the spiritual welfare of Los
Angeles Reformed Jewry; and it is certainly a source of very
great satisfaction to me that during his tenure of office his
good fellowship has led him, on more than one occasion, to
tender the altar of the Jewish temple for Christian worship.
Scholarly in pursuits and eloquent of address. Dr. Hecht for
sixteen years has well presided over the destinies of his flock,
his congregation keeping pace with the growth of the city.
Incursions of other jobbing centers into Los Angeles terri-
tory induced our leading manufacturers and wholesalers to
combine for offensive as well as defensive purposes; and on
iQos] The Southwest Archaeological Society 619
October nth, 1899, in answer to a call, an enthusiastic meeting
was held in Room 86, Temple Block, attended by J. Baruch,
J. 0. Koepfli, J. Saeger, R. L. Craig, L. Kimble, L. C. Scheller,
George H. Wigmore, F. W. Braun, C. C. Reynolds, I. A.
Lothian, W. S. Hunt, A. H. Busch, M. H. Newmark and others,
who elected Baruch, President; Koepfli, First Vice-President;
Reynolds, Second Vice-President; Scheller, Treasurer; and
Braun, Secretary. A couple of weeks later, A. M. Rawson
was named Secretary, Braun having resigned to accept the
Third Vice-Presidency; and on November 3d, the Associated
Jobbers of Southern California, as the organization was called,
was re-christened the Associated Jobbers of Los Angeles.
Meanwhile at a quiet luncheon, Koepfli and Newmark had
entered into negotiations with Charles D. Willard, with the
result that, when Rawson withdrew on February 28th, 1900,
Willard assumed the duties of Secretary, holding the office for
years, until compelled by sickness, on January iSth, 191 1, to
relinquish the work. On February 21st, 1900, Baruch having
resigned, M. H. Newmark began a service of twelve years as
President. The strength of the organization was materially
increased when, in March, 1908, F. P. Gregson, well up in the
traffic councils of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad,
assumed the management of the recently-established traffic
bureau.
On April loth, 1908, after many years of hardship, financial
trouble and disappointment, during which the Executive
Committee and Secretary Willard had frequent conferences
with J. C. Stubbs and William Sproule (then Stubbs's assistant)
of the Southern Pacific, and W. A. Bissell, of the Atchison,
Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, it became evident that more
equitable rates for shippers into the San Joaquin Valley and
elsewhere could not peaceably be obtained. A promised
readjustment, lowering Los Angeles rates about twenty per
cent., had been published; but at the request of the San
Francisco merchants, the new tariff-sheet was repudiated
by the transportation companies. A rehearing was also denied
by them. The Associated Jobbers then carried the case before
620 Sixty Years in Southern California [isgs-
the newly-created Railroad Commission and obtained conces-
sions amounting to fifty per cent, of the original demands.
Guided by their astute Traffic Manager, F. P. Gregson, the
jobbers, not satisfied with the first settlement, in 1910 renewed
their activity before the Commission; and on the 15th of the
following February, still further reductions were announced.
The last rates authorized in 1912 are still in effect.
In 1899, James M. Guinn, after some years of miscellaneous
work in the field of local annals, issued his History of Los Angeles
County, following the same in 1907 with a History of California
and the Southern Coast Counties. As I write, he has in prepara-
tion a still more compendious work to be entitled, Los Angeles
and Environs.
At half-past four o'clock on the morning of December
25th, a slight shock of earthquake was felt in Los Angeles;
but it was not until some hours later that the telegraph re-
ported the much greater damage wrought at San Jacinto,
Riverside County. There, walls fell in heaps; and a peculiar
freak was the complete revolution of a chimney without the dis-
turbance of a single brick ! Six squaws, by the falling of their
adobes at the Reservation some miles away, were instantly
killed. When day dawned and the badly-frightened people
began to inspect the neighborhood, they found great mountain-
crevices, into some of which even large trees had fallen.
Toward the end of the nineties, Henry E. Huntington
sold much or all of his large holdings in the San Francisco
railways and began both to buy up Los Angeles railway stocks
and to give his personal attention to the city's traffic-problems.
At the same time, he bent his energies to the crowning work of
his life — the development of the various interurban electric
systems focusing in Los Angeles. In 1902, the road to Long
Beach was completed; and in the following year electric cars
began to run to Monrovia and Whittier. In 1903, the seven-
story Huntington or Pacific Electric Building at the comer of
Main and Sixth streets was finished. The effect of these
extensive improvements on local commerce and on the value
of real estate (as well as their influence on the growth of popula-
1905] The Southwest Archaeological Society 621
tion through the coming of tourists seeking the conveniences
and pleasures of social hfe) cannot, perhaps, be fully estimated
— a fact which the people of this city should always remember
with gratitude.
During the winter of 1 899-1 900, business cares so weighed
upon me that I decided temporarily to cast off all worry and
indulge myself with another visit to the Old World. This
decision was reached rather suddenly and, as my friends insist,
in a perfectly characteristic manner: one morning I hastened
to the steamship office and bought the necessary tickets; and
then I went home leisurely and suggested to my wife that she
prepare for a trip to Europe!
About the first of January, therefore, we left Los Angeles,
reached Naples on February ist and traveled for nine months
through Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland,
Norway, Sweden and Denmark. I returned to my birthplace,
Loebau, which in my youth had appeared of such importance;
but although somewhat larger than it used to be, it now never-
theless seemed small and insignificant.
While making this tour of Europe, I revisited Sweden and
renewed my acquaintance with the families that had been so
kind to me as a boy. Time had lamentably thinned the ranks
of the older generation, but many of the younger, especially
those of my own age, were still there. Those only who have
had a similar experience will appreciate my pleasure in once
again greeting these steadfast friends. I also reviewed numer-
ous scenes formerly so familiar. It is impossible to describe
my emotions on thus again seeing this beautiful country, or to
convey to the reader the depth of my respect and affection
for her intelligent, thrifty and whole-souled people, especially
when I remembered their liberal encouragement of my father
about forty years before.
Thanks to the indefatigable labors of Mrs. A. S. C. Forbes
of Los Angeles, the beautiful ceremony of strewing flowers
upon the restless ocean waters in honor of the naval dead was
first observed at Santa Monica on Memorial Day in 1900,
and bids fair to become an appropriate national custom.
622 Sixty Years in Southern California [1898-
vSenora Antonio F. Coronel entrusted to the Chamber of
Commerce, on June 6th, the invaluable historical souvenirs
known as the Coronel Collection; and now' for years these
exhibits, housed in the Chamber of Commerce Building,
have been one of the sights of the city, a pleasure and a stim-
ulation alike to tourist and resident.
A good anecdote as to the transfer of this collection is
related on the authority of Miss Anna B. Picher, President of
the Boundary League and the lady who made the first move to
secure the interesting League mementos now preserved and dis-
played at the County Museum. When the matter of making
the Coronel heirlooms more accessible to the public was brought
to Senora Coronel 's attention, she not only showed a lively
interest, but at once agreed to make the donation. She
imposed, however, the condition that Miss Picher should bring
to her M. J. Newmark and John F. Francis, then directors,
in whose integrity and acumen she had great confidence.
This was done; and these gentlemen having pledged their
personal attention and sponsorship, the Senora committed
the historic objects to the Chamber of Commerce for the
benefit, forever, of all the people.
The Los Angeles Herald, on July 7th, passed into the hands
of a group of stockholders especially interested in petroleum,
Wallace R. Hardison bemg President and General Manager,
and R. H. Hay Chapman, Managing Editor. At the same
time the newspaper's policy became Republican.
The Harvard School was opened, on September 25th by
Grenville C. Emery and was the first notable military academy
for youth in Los Angeles. After many terms of successful
work under Congregational auspices, the School has passed to
the control of the Rt. Reverend J. H. Johnson, as trustee for
the Episcopal Church, which has acquired other valuable
school properties in the Southland; Professor Emery remitting
fifty thousand dollars of the purchase price in consideration
of a promise to perpetuate his name.
A tunnel was put through Bunker Hill — by the way, one of
■ Installed, of late, in the County Museum.
1905] The Southwest Archaeological Society 623
the highest of downtown elevations — from Hill Street to Hope
on Third, in 1901, bringing the western hill district into closer
touch with the business center of the town and greatly enhanc-
ing the value of neighboring property. The delay in cutting
through First and Second streets, which would afford so much
relief to the municipality, is a reproach against the good sense
of the City.
The Los Angeles Express, which enjoys the honor of being
the oldest daily newspaper still published in Los Angeles, and
which, for fifteen years, has been so well managed by H. W.
Brundige, was sold in January to Edwin T. Earl, who moved the
plant to a building erected for it on Fifth Street between
Broadway and Hill. Earl came to Los Angeles in 1885,
having previously for years packed and shipped fruit on a large
scale. In 1890, as a result of the obstacles handicapping the
sending of fresh fruit to the East, Earl invented a new refrigera-
tor car with ventilating devices ; and unable to get the railroads
to take over its construction, he organized a company for the
building of the conveyors. On selling out to the Armours,
Earl made large investments in Los Angeles real estate. A few
years ago, the Express was moved to Hill Street near Seventh.
Possibly owing to the renewed interest in local historical study,
the Express, in 1905, commenced the republication of news items
of "Twenty-five Years Ago To-day" — a feature of peculiar
pleasure to the pioneer.
William F. Grosser, who died on April 1 5th, was long active
in Los Angeles Tumverein circles, having popularized science
before institutions and lecture-courses existed here for that
purpose. A native of Potsdam, Prussia, Grosser came to
Southern California via Panama, and on settling in Los Angeles,
laid out the Grosser Tract. Having been an advanced stu-
dent of astronomical science and microscopy, and possessing
a good-sized portable telescope, he was soon in demand by
societies and schools, for which he lectured without financial
remuneration. One of Grosser's sisters, Mrs. A. Jelinek —
whose husband, a Boston cabinet-maker, had an interesting
part in the carving of the chair made from " the spreading
624 Sixty Years in Southern California [iSgfr-
chestnut tree" and presented to the poet Longfellow by the
school children of Cambridge — has been for years an honored
resident of Ocean Park, where she was one of the early investors.
A granddaughter is Fraulein Elsa Grosser, the violinist.
On April 24th, Samuel Calvert Foy died, aged seventy-one,
survived by his wife and six children.
A little town in Ventura County, bearing the name of the
famous student and author, recalls the death near here in
July of Charles Nordhoff, whose pioneer book, California:
For Health, Pleasure and Residence, published in the early
seventies, did more, I dare say, than any similar work to
spread the fame of the Southland throughout the East.
Charles Erode, who died in August, first saw Los Angeles in
1868, when he came here to nurse Edward J., my wife's brother,
in his last illness. He then opened a grocery store at South
Spring Street near Second, and was active in Tumverein and
Odd Fellow circles. The mention of Erode recalls the name of
one who has attained distinction here : even as a messenger boy
at the California Club in the eighties, Oscar Lawler gave
promise of an important future. He had come from Iowa as a
child, and his personality, ability and ambition soon brought
him prominently before the Ear and the people. He served
as United States Attorney for this district from 1906 until
1909, when he became Assistant to the Attorney-General of
the United States. He is high in Masonic circles, being Past
Grand Master of the Masonic Grand Lodge of California. In
1 901, he married Miss Hilda, daughter of Charles Erode.
Catalina Island, in the summer of 1902, established wireless
connection with the mainland, at White's Point; and on
August 2d, the first messages were exchanged. On March
25th of the following year began the publication of the Catalina
newspaper known as the Wireless.
After graduating from the University of California in 1902,
my son Marco attended for a while the University of Eerlin ;
after which he returned to Los Angeles and entered the house
of M. A. Newmark & Company.
The women of California, in the late eighties, wishing to
1905] The Southwest Archaeological Society 625
pay Mrs. John C. Fremont an appropriate tribute, presented
her with a residence at the northwest comer of Hoover and
Twenty-eighth streets, Los Angeles where, on December
27th, 1902, at the age of seventy-eight years, she died. Mrs.
Fremont was a woman of charming personahty and decidedly
intellectual gifts; and in addition to having written several
meritorious works, she was engaged, at the time of her death,
on her autobiography. Her ashes were sent East to the banks
of the Hudson, to be interred beside those of her distinguished
husband; but her daughter. Miss Elizabeth Benton Fremont,
has continued to reside here in the family homestead.
On the site of one of my early homes, the corner-stone of the
new Chamber of Commerce was laid on March 28th with
impressive Masonic ceremonies. The principal address was
made by Jonathan S. Slauson. Ferdinand K. Rule was then
President of the Chamber; and the Building Committee con-
sisted of M. J. Newmark, Chairman; A. B. Cass, Homer
Laughlin, F. K. Rule, H. S. McKee and James A. Foshay —
the latter for sixteen years, beginning with the middle nineties,
having demonstrated his efficiency as Superintendent of City
Schools.
Early in 1903, G. A. Dobinson, a Shakespearian student
and teacher of elocution, induced me to build a hall on Hope
Street near Eleventh, connected with a small theater; and
there, in the spring of 1904, he opened the well-known
Dobinson School, which he conducted until 1906. Then the
Gamut Club, an organization of 1904 — whose first President
was Professor Adolph Willhartitz, ' the artistic German pianist
— moved in.
The pioneer experiments with the navel orange have already
been referred to; a late episode associates the luscious fruit
with a President of the United States. On May 6th, amid
great festivity participated in by all Riverside, Theodore
Roosevelt replanted, in front of Frank Miller's Mission Inn,
one of the original, historic trees.
William K. Cowan came to Los Angeles as a jeweler in
' Died on January I2th, 1915, aged seventy-eight years.
626 Sixty Years in Southern California [1898-
1887, later embarked in the bicycle trade and was one of the
first men in Los Angeles to sell automobiles, at length building
in 1903 at 830 South Broadway the first large garage here.
Some months later, if I recollect aright, witnessed the
advent on our streets of a number of horseless carriages, and I
was seized with a desire to possess not one, but two. My ac-
quisitions were both electric, and soon I was extending, right
and left, invitations to my friends to ride with me. On the
first of these excursions, however, one of the machines balked
and the second also broke down; and to make a long story
short, no mechanic in town being sufficiently expert to straighten
out the difficulty, I soon disposed of them in disgust for about
seven hundred dollars.
In 1903, a notable change was made, and one decidedly for
the better interests of the public schools, when one hundred
citizens, pursuant to a change in the City's charter, selected
a non-partizan Board of Education consisting of John D. Bick-
nell, Joseph Scott, J. M. Guinn, Jonathan S. Slauson, Charles
Cassatt Davis, Emmet H. Wilson and W. J. Washburn.
On October 23d the Southwest Society was founded here
by Charles F. Lummis with Jonathan S. Slauson as its first
President; Charles F. Lummis, Secretary and W. C. Patterson,
Treasurer. Associated with these officers were J. O. Koepfli,
M. A. Hamburger, General H. G. Otis, Henry W. O'Melveny,
Major E. W. Jones, J. A. Foshay, the Right Reverend Thomas
J. Conaty, J. D. Bicknell and others. In the beginning, it was
a branch of the Archseological Institute of America; but so
rapid was the Society's growth that, in three years, it had
fifty per cent, more members than belonged to the thirty-
year-old parent organization in Boston, with which it remained
affiliated until 1913 when it withdrew in order that all its
funds might go toward the maintenance of the Southwest
Museum, a corporation founded in 1907 as the result of the
Southwest Society's labors.
The first plant of the Los Angeles Examiner, a newspaper
owned by William Randolph Hearst, was installed in 1903
by Dent H.Robert, then and now publisher of the San Francisco
1905] The Southwest Archseological Society 627
Examiner. The paper, illustrated from the start, made its
first appearance on December 12th and sprang into immediate
favor. R. A. Farrelly was the first managing editor. The
office of the paper was on the west side of Broadway near Fifth
Street, where it remained for ten years, during which it ren-
dered valuable service to the community, notably in conducting
a successful campaign for the sale of seven hundred and twenty
thousand dollars' worth of school bonds which had hitherto
proven unmarketable. In the meantime, Robert had been
succeeded, first by a Mr. Strauss, and then by Henry Lowen-
thal and William P. Leech, while Farrelly was followed by Foster
Coates, Arthur Clark and W. P. Anderson. In 1908, the enter-
prising Maximilian F. Ihmsen assumed the responsibilities of
publisher, and at the same time Frederick W. Eldridge became
the efficient managing editor. Under the able direction of these
experienced men, this morning daily has attained its highest
prosperity, marked by removal in the fall of 1913 to the Ex-
aminer Building at Broadway and Eleventh Street.
Abbot Kinney, foreseeing a future for the tide-fiats and
lagoons south of Ocean Park, in 1904 purchased enough
acreage whereon to build the now well-known Venice, which,
as its name implies, was to be adorned with canals, bridges and
arcades. Through Kinney's remarkable spirit of enterprise,
a wonderful transformation was effected in a single year.
Such in fact was the optimism of this founder of towns that,
in order to amply supply the necessary funds, he closed out
important city holdings including the Flat Iron Square, lying
between Eighth and Ninth, and Main and Spring streets, the
Abbotsford Inn property and the large southeast comer of
Spring and Sixth streets, at present occupied by the Grosse
Building. Kinney's foresight, courage and persistence have
been rewarded, the dreams of his prime becoming the realities
of his more advanced age.
The task of building here a King's Highway — El Camino
Real — intended to connect all the missions and presidios be-
tween San Diego and Sonoma was undertaken in the troublous
days of Don Caspar de Portola and Father Junipero Serra;
628 Sixty Years in Southern California [isgs-
but time in a measure obliterated this landmark. Since 1904,
however, such kindred spirits as Miss Anna B. Picher — for
nearly twenty years a zealous toiler for the preservation of our
historic monuments, and whose zeal in behalf of the royal
road was paramount — Mr. and Mrs. A. S. C. Forbes, Dr.
Milbank Johnson, R. F. Del Valle, Mrs. C. R. Olney of Oak-
land and Frank Ey, Mayor of Santa Ana, have so caused
the work to prosper that at the present time much of the origi-
nal highway is about to be incorporated with the good State
roads of California. The first bell for one of the mission-bell
guide posts (designed, by the way, by Mrs. Forbes) was dedi-
cated at the Plaza Church on August 15th, 1906; and since then
some four hundred of these indicators have been placed along
the Camino Real.
An interesting attempt to transplant a small Eastern town
to California was made in 1904 when Alfred Dolge, the founder
of Dolgeville, New York (and the author of the elaborate work,
Pianos and their Makers, published in 191 1 at little Covina),
established Dolgeville in Los Angeles County, opening there,
with three hundred or more operatives, a felt works for piano
fixtures. The experiment had been undertaken because
of expected advantages in the supply of wool; but changes
in the tariff ruined the industry, and after some years of varying
prosperity, Dolgeville was annexed to Alhambra.
A syndicate, styled the Los Angeles Herald Company,
whose President was Frank G. Finlayson, in 1904 bought
the Herald, at that time under the editorial management of
Robert M. Yost.
Future generations will doubtless be as keen to learn some-
thing about the preserving of albacore, commonly spoken of
as tuna, as I should like to know how and by whom sardines
were first successfully put into cans. The father of this indus-
try is Albert P. Halfhill, a Minnesotan drawn here, in 1892,
through the opportunities for packing mackerel on this southern
coast. In 1894, ■^s find him organizing the California Fish
Company, soon to be known as the Southern California Fish
Company. In 1904, Halfhill, while experimenting with various
I90S] The Southwest Archaeological Society 629
western sea-foods, accidentally discovered the extraordinary
quality of the albacore, a briny-deep heavyweight so interest-
ing to the angler and so mysterious to the scientist. As a
mere bit of gossip, Halfhill's assurance that M. A. Newmark
& Company purchased the first canned tuna is entitled to
mention.
The Turnverein-Germania took a notable step forward
this year by buying a lot, one hundred by three hundred feet,
on South Figueroa, between Pico and Fifteenth streets ; and on
September 3d, 1905, the new club building and gymnasium
were formally opened.
William H. Workman in 1904 was elected Treasurer of the
City of Los Angeles for the third time, his first term of office
having begun in 1901. This compliment was the more em-
phatic because Workman was a Democrat and received four
thousand five hundred votes more than his opponent — and that,
too, only a month after Roosevelt had carried Los Angeles
by a majority of thirteen thousand.
In a previous chapter, I have described the vender of
tamales and ice-cream, so familiar through his peculiar voice
as well as his characteristic costume. About 1905, another ce-
lebrity plying a trade in the same line, and known as Francisco,
appeared here and daily made his rounds through the more
fashionable Westlake district. He had a tenor voice of rare
quality and power, and used it, while exquisitely rendering
choice arias, to advertise his wares. Such was his merit that
lovers of music, as soon as his presence was known, paused to
listen; with the natural result that business with Francisco
was never dull. Whenever a grand opera company came to
town, the Italian was there, in a front seat of the gallery; and
so great was his enthusiastic interest in the performance of
those whose voices were often inferior to his own, that he could
be seen, with gaze fixed on the proscenium, passionately
beating time as if to direct the orchestra. Seven or eight years
ago, the long-favorite Francisco was foully murdered, and under
strange circumstances; leading many to believe that, having
perhaps degraded himself from his former estate and fleeing,
630 Sixty Years in Southern California [1898-
an alien, to an unknown land, he had fallen at last the victim
of a vendetta.
In 1905, I took part in a movement, headed by Joseph
Mesmer, to raise by subscription the funds necessary to buy
the old Downey Block — fronting on Temple and North Main
streets, and extending through to New High — for the purpose
of presenting it to the National Government for a Federal
Building site. Unusual success attended our efforts, and the
transfer to Uncle Sam was duly made. In the meantime, an
appropriation of eight hundred thousand dollars had been
secured for the building, and it was with no little surprise and
disappointment when the bids for construction were opened,
in May, 1906, that the lowest was found to be nearly a
million dollars. This delayed matters until the following
fall. In October, the site at the corner of Main and Winston
streets was sold for three hundred and fourteen thousand
dollars; and the deficiency having thus been supplied, it was
not long before the new building was in course of construction.
Desiring to celebrate the fifty years which had elapsed
since, perched upon an ox-cart, he rode into Los Angeles for
the first time, William H. Workman on January 21st gave a
banquet to five hundred pioneers in Turnverein Hall, the menu
being peculiarly mejicano. The reminiscences, speeches and
quips were of the friendliest and best; and the whole affair
was one that recalled to both host and guests the dolce Jar
niente days of dear old Los Angeles.
On February 2 1st, the San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt
Lake Railroad was completed — the fourth transcontinental
line, with its connections, to enter Los Angeles.
In the spring, A. C. and A. M. Parson bought a tract of
land on Alamitos Bay and there, at the mouth of the San
Gabriel River, founded Naples, with features somewhat
similar to those at Venice ; but unlike the latter town, the new
Naples has never developed into a crowded resort.
Arriving in California in 1869, at the age of seven, Frank
Putnam Flint, a native of Massachusetts concerning whom
much of importance might be related, was elected in 1905
iQos] The Southwest Archaeological Society 631
United States Senator from California. His brother, Motley H.
Flint, high in Masonic circles, has also enjoyed an important
career, having long been associated with many local public
movements.
An optimist of optimists, still young though having passed
more than one milestone on the road to success, Willis H. Booth
came to Los Angeles a mere lad and is a product of the Los
Angeles High School and the State University. Before, while
and since filling the office of President of the Chamber of
Commerce, Booth has been identified with nearly everything
worth while here and gives promise of an important and
interesting future. He is now one of the Vice-Presidents of
the Security Trust and Savings Bank.
In August, Juan B. Bandini, second son of the famous
Don Juan, died at Santa Monica. Two of Bandini's daughters
were noted Los Angeles belles — ^Arcadia, who became the wife
of John T. Gaffey, of San Pedro; and Dolores, who married
into the well-known literary family, the Wards, of London.
Strenuous efforts were made in 1905 to house the Historical
Society of Southern California, which, incorporated on February
I2th, 1891, boasts of being the oldest organization of it's kind on
the Coast and the only one doing State work ; and the Legisla-
ture appropriated one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars
for a building. Governor Pardee, however, vetoed the bill —
an act which later contributed to the endowment, by the State,
of the comely County Museum in which the Historical Society
now has its home.
In the spring of 1905, the then eight-year-old town of
Redondo, with her large hotel and busy wharf, and famed for
her fields of carnations, became the scene of one of those in-
frequent, but typically American, real estate frenzies which come
suddenly, last a few days and as suddenly depart. This par-
ticular attack, not to say epidemic, was brought on by one or two
newspaper headlines announcing to the breakfasting reader that
Henry E. Huntington had decided to spend millions of dollars
in making immense railroad and other improvements in the
seaside town, and that this would at once raise Redondo from
632 Sixty Years in Southern California [1898-1905]
the humble status of a village to almost metropolitan dignity.
In about as little time as is required to relate it, the astonished
beach-dwellers found themselves overwhelmed by a surging
mass of humanity struggling for the privilege of buying lots.
The real estate offices were soon surrounded by hundreds of
people, fighting, pushing and shoving, all possessed of but the
one idea — to buy.
And they bought. They bought corners and they bought
in the middle of the blocks; they bought heaps of sand and
holes in the ground; they bought in one breath and sold m the
next; they bought blindly and sold blindly. Redondo had
become a huge, unregulated stock exchange, lots instead
of stocks for five days becoming the will-o'-the-wisps of the
fated bidders, until the boom collapsed leaving hundreds with
lots they had never seen and which, for the time being, they
could not sell at any price.
Huntington did not spend his millions — at least then and
there. Redondo did not suddenly become a big center. Yet,
in passing through the experience of many a town, Redondo has
gradually grown in population and importance, even developing
something of a suburb — Clifton-by-the-Sea. Such was the
famous boom of 1905; and such will probably be the story of
similar California booms to come.
CHAPTER XLII
THE SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE
I906-I9IO
ON January 1st, 1906, after more than half a century of
commercial activity — with some things well done, and
some poorly enough — during which it has never been
my ambition to better myself at the expense of others, I retired
from business to enjoy the moderate but sufficient affluence
which years of varying fortune had bestowed upon me.
Rather early in the morning of April i8th, news was received
here of the awful calamity that had befallen San Francisco ; and
with lightning rapidity the report spread throughout the city.
Newspaper and telegraph offices were besieged for particulars
as to the earthquake, which, strange to say, while it also affected
even San Diego, was scarcely felt here; and within a couple of
hours, more than a thousand telegrams were filed at one office
alone, although not a single message was despatched. Thousands
of agitated tourists and even residents hastened to the railroad
stations, fearing further seismic disturbance and danger, and
bent on leaving the Coast; and soon the stations and trains
were so congested that little or nothing could be done with the
panic-stricken crowds. Meanwhile, more and more details
of the widespread disaster poured in ; and Los Angeles began to
comprehend how paralyzing to her sister cities must have been
the wreck and ruin following, first, the shaking of the earth, and
then the much more serious fires and explosions. Soon, too,
refugees from the North commenced flocking into our city ; and
these thousands, none with complete and few with decent
633
634 Sixty Years in Southern California [1906-
attire, each pleading pathetically for assistance, told the sad
tale much more frankly than could the noisy newsboy, with his
flaring headlines and shrill, intermittent Extra!
Long before much information was secured as to just
what had happened, public-spirited men and women, some
under the banners of regular organizations, some acting in-
dependently, moved energetically to afford relief. The news-
papers led off with large subscriptions, while the Chamber of
Commerce, Board of Trade and the Merchants & Manufacturers'
Association swelled the amount. Eventually some two hun-
dred and fifty thousand dollars was raised. At the same time,
and within two or three hours after the terrifying news had
first been received, the Directors of the Chamber of Commerce
met and appointed various committees headed by Francis
Quarles Story, a patriotic and indomitable citizen who arrived
in 1883; and having the valuable cooperation of Frank Wiggins,
who served as Secretary, they went actively to work to render
the most practical assistance possible. A vSupply Committee,
of which M. H. Newmark was chairman, by five o'clock the
same afternoon had assembled fourteen carloads of goods,
partly donated and partly sold to the Committee at cost, to go
by rail, and nine carloads to go from San Pedro by water. This
train full of necessaries was the first relief of its kind that reached
San Francisco ; other shipments of supplies followed daily ; and
with the first relief train went a corps of surgeons, under the
chairmanship of Dr. L. M. Powers, Health Officer, who estab-
lished a hospital in the Jefferson Square Building, treating two
thousand patients in less than three weeks. Among the
chairmen of the several committees were: J. O. Koepfli, J.
Baruch, R. W. Burnham, Niles Pease, Perry Weidner, John
E. Coffin, J. J. Fogarty, W. L. Vail, D. C. McGarvin, W. A.
Hammel, F. Edward Gray, Mrs. R. M. Widney and D. J.
Desmond; while H. B. Gurley, long identified with Frank
Wiggins in Chamber of Commerce work, was Assistant
Secretary.
In this way was our sister-city laid low; but only, as it
were, for a moment. While the flames were yet consuming the
ipio] The San Francisco Earthquake 635
old San Francisco, her children were courageously planning the
new ; and supported by that well-nigh superhuman spirit which
community misfortune never fails to inspire — the spirit that
transforms weakness into strength, and transmutes, as by an
altruistic alchemy, the base metal of "eachness" into the pure
gold of "allness" — this stricken people built and built until,
to-day, less than a decade after that memorable night, there
stands by the Golden Gate a finer and more beautiful city than
the one from which it sprang. And, as if to emphasize to other
nations the fulness of San Francisco's accomplishment, her
invincible citizens are now organizing and triumphantly carry-
ing out a great world's exposition.
One incident of this period of excitement and strain is per-
haps worthy of record as evidence of the good fellowship
existing between Los Angeles and the prostrate city. On May
2d the Executive Committee' of the Associated Jobbers passed
resolutions discouraging any effort to take advantage of San
Francisco's plight, and pledging to help restore her splendid
commercial prestige; whereupon Samuel T. Clover made this
editorial comment in the Los Angeles Evening News:
We commend the reading of these expressions of kindly
good will to every pessimist in the country, as an evidence that
all commercial honor is not wiped out in this grossly materi-
alistic age. The resolutions, as passed, are an honor to the
Jobbers' Association in particular, and a credit to Los Angeles
in general. The Evening News desires to felicitate President
Newmark and his associates on the lofty attitude they have
taken in the exigency. We are proud of them.
Among the many who at this time turned their faces toward
Los Angeles is Hector Alliot, the versatile Curator of the South-
west Museum. Bom in France and graduating from the
University of Lombardy, Dr. Alliot participated in various im-
portant explorations, later settling in San Francisco. Losing
■ President, M. H. Newmark; First Vice-President, J. O. Koepfli; Second
Vice-President, C. C. Reynolds; Third Vice-President, F. W. Bravin; Treas-
urer, L. C. Scheller; Secretary, Charles D wight Willard; Directors: H. R. Boyn-
ton, J. Baruch, P. A. Benjamin, A. Douglass, I. A. Lothian and D. Wiebers.
636 Sixty Years in Southern California [^906-
in the earthquake and fire everything that he possessed, Alliot
came south and took up the quill, first with the Examiner and
then the Times. '
Mr. and Mrs. M. Kremer, on April 9th, celebrated their
golden wedding; less than a year later, both were dead. Mrs.
Kremer passed away on March 5th, 1907, and her husband
followed her two days later — an unusual dispensation.
In July, I was seized with an illness which, without doubt,
must have precluded the possibility of writing these memoirs
had it not been for the unselfish attendance, amounting to
real self-sacrifice, of Lionel J. Adams. From that time until
now, in fair weather or foul, in good health or ill, Adams un-
complainingly and, indeed cheerfully, has bestowed upon me
the tender care that contributed to the prolongation of my
life ; and it affords me peculiar pleasure to record, not only the
debt of gratitude that I owe him and the sincere friendship
so long marking our relations, but also his superior character
as a man.
J. M. Griffith, for years a leading transportation agent and
lumber merchant, died here on October i6th. Griffith Avenue
is named after him. Just two weeks later, William H. Perry
passed away — a man of both infiuence and affluence, but once
so poor and tattered that when he arrived, in February, 1854,
he was unable to seek work until he had first obtained, on
credit, some decent clothes.
Sometime about 1907, Major Ben C. Truman, both a
connoisseur of good wines and an epicure, figured in an animated
controversy as to the making of mint-julep, the battle waging
around the question whether a julep's a julep, or not a julep,
with the mint added before or after a certain stage in the
concocting !
In an exceedingly informal manner, at the Westlake Avenue
residence of my daughter, Mrs. L. Loeb, my wife and I on the
24th of March, 1908 celebrated our golden wedding anniversary,
' One of Dr. Alliot's most recent accomplishments is a comprehensive Bibliog-
raphy :' Arizona, recently published — the result of Dr. J. A. Mimk's liberal
provision.
Harris and Sarah Newmark, at Time of Golden Wedding
s
1
a
a
o
M
3
1910] The San Francisco Earthquake 637
the occasion being the more unusual because both the nuptials
and the silver wedding festivity had occurred in Los Angeles. '
Our pleasure on that occasion was intensified by the presence
of friends with whom, during most of our married life, we had
maintained unbroken the most amicable relations.
Many years after spur-track switching charges had been
abolished throughout other industrial districts of the United
States, the Western railroads continued to assess this charge in
Los Angeles, to the extent that, as was estimated, our merchants
were paying through this tribute alone an amount not less
than $250,000 a year. In August, 1908, however, or shortly
after F. P. Gregson became identified with the Associated
Jobbers, suit was filed by M. H. Newmark, as President, before
the Interstate Commerce Commission; and on May 7th, 1910,
a decision was rendered in favor of local shippers. But un-
fortunately this decision was reversed on July 20th, 191 1, by the
Commerce Court.'' Joseph P. Loeb and Edward G. Kuster,
young attorneys, handled the case in a manner recognized
among men of their profession as being unusually brilliant;
while Gregson brought together a mass of valuable facts. This
was probably the most notable of all the cases of its kind in the
commercial history of Los Angeles. The other directors at the
time the suit was brought were: J. O. Koepfli, C. C. Reynolds,
F. W. Braun, L. C. Scheller, H. R. Boynton, A. Douglass, D.
Wiebers, W. H. Joyce, W. E. Hampton and E. H. Greppin.
Not the least interesting step forward in providing Los
Angeles with a harbor was the acquisition of a strip of land
known as the Shoe String connecting Los Angeles with San Pedro
and Wilmington. This practical idea made possible in 1909
' On July 5th, 1915, Mr. and Mrs. S. Lazardcelebrated their golden wedding,
Mrs. Lazard being the third daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Newmark to enjoy
the privilege — almost unique in a single family, and that will become the more re-
markable if Mrs. Eugene Meyer (the fourth daughter) and her husband live to
commemorate, on the 20th of November, 1917, the fiftieth anniversary of
their marriage.
^ The Supreme Court of the United States, on June 8th, 1914, affirmed the
decision of the Interstate Commerce Court, and thus was obliterated this very
iniquitous charge.
638 Sixty Years in Southern California [1906-
the unhampered consolidation of the three places; and before
the beginning of April their various civic bodies had
been considering the formation of committees to bring this
about. On Saturday, April 3d, the Los Angeles appointees met
at the rooms of the Chamber of Commerce for permanent
organization. They were William D. Stephens, Mayor of Los
Angeles; Stoddard Jess; Homer Hamlin, City Engineer; F.
W. Braun ; J. A. Anderson, Attorney for the Harbor Commission
and ex-member of the Board of Public Works ; Leslie R. Hewitt,
City Attorney ; Frank Simpson ; Joseph Scott, President of the
Board of Education; M. H. Newmark, President of the Asso-
ciated Jobbers; J. M. Schneider, President of the Merchants
and Manufacturers' Association; A. P. Fleming, Secretary of
the Harbor Commission; ex-Mayor M. P. Snyder, H. Jevne, O.
E. Parish, President of the Realty Board; and F. J. Hart.
Jess was elected President ; Fleming, Secretary ; and to the ad-
mirable manner in which they conducted the campaign, much
of the ultimate success of the movement must be attributed.
The delegates from San Pedro and Wilmington refused to go on
until the Associated Jobbers had pledged themselves to obtain
for the harbor districts, after consolidation was effected, the
same freight advantages enjoyed by Los Angeles. This promise
was given and fulfilled. Various other pledges were outlined
in the Committee's report and adopted by the City Council;
but many of these assurances have not thus far been carried
out by the authorities. Then a vigorous campaign was pro-
jected, as a result of which both elections — that of Wilmington
and Los Angeles on August 5th, and the other, of San Pedro
and Los Angeles, on August 12th — resulted in handsome major-
ities for consolidation. These substantial victories were fit-
tingly celebrated throughout the consolidated cities; and on
February 13th, 1910, the port became officially known as Los
Angeles Harbor.
In April, 1906, the one hundred thousand books of the
Los Angeles Public Library, then under the administration of
Charles F. Lummis, were moved from the City Hall to the
Laughlin Building. With the opening of September, 1908,
1910] The San Francisco Earthquake 639
the Library was again moved by the same Librarian, this time
to the Hamburger Building. '
On the evening of October nth, 1909, I attended a banquet
tendered to President Taft by the City of Los Angeles, at the
Shrine Auditorium. Every honor was shown the distinguished
guest, and his stay of two or three days was devoted to much
sight-seeing, to say nothing of the patriotic efforts of many
politicians whose laudable desire was to whisper in the
Presidential ear d propos of government employment.
The election of George Alexander as Mayor on November
loth, 1909 was largely responsible for the later success of the
Progressive party — with whose SociaHstic policies I am not in
sympathy. W. C. Mushet, the more acceptable candidate, ran
on a ticket endorsed by business-men organized under the chair-
manship of M. H. Newmark, while George A. Smith was the
Republican candidate. Alexander's campaign was managed by
Meyer Lissner, an arrival of 1 896 who had a brief experience as
a jeweler before he turned his attention to law. He possessed
much political sagacity, and was therefore quick to turn the
Alexander success to the advantage of Hiram Johnson who
was soon elected Governor. George N. Black, who came here
a child in 1886, and graduated from the Los Angeles High
School, later being President of the California State Realty
Confederation and Grand President of the Independent Order
B'nai B'rith of this district, directed Smith's campaign.
On January 29th, 1910, the citizens of Los Angeles, under the
leadership of Max Meyberg, tendered to D. A. Hamburger
(Chairman), Perry W. Weidner, Fred L. Baker, William M.
Garland, M. C. Neuner, Dick Ferris and F. J. Zeehandelaar,
the committee in charge of the first Aviation Meet here, a
banquet at the Alexandria Hotel. The contests had occurred
a few days before at Dominguez Field, on a part of the once
famous rancho; and to see the aerial antics of the huge man-
' On June ist, 1914, the Library — directed by Everett R. Perry, who came to
Los Angeles in the fall of 191 1, from the staff of the New York Public Library — ■
was removed to the Metropolitan Building at the northwest corner of Broadway
and Fifth Street, its shelves, a month later, holding 227,894 volumes.
640 Sixty Years in Southern California [1906-1910]
made birds, as they swiftly ascended and descended, was no
less nerve-racking, at least to me, than it was interesting.
Litigation having established a clear title to the property
once held by the Sixth District Agricultural Association, and the
State, the declared owner, having agreed to lease the ground
to the County and the City for fifty years, decisive steps were
taken in January, 19 10, by the Historical Society of Southern
California to provide the Museum building now such a source
of civic pride. Other bodies, including the Fine Arts League,
the Southern California Academy of Science and a branch of
the Cooper Ornithological Society, were invited to cooperate,
each being promised a place in the park and museum plans;
and by the middle of February, the supervisors had agreed to
vote the necessary building funds. On July nth, 1910, in the
presence of a large and representative gathering at Exposition
Park, ground was broken for the building, although the corner-
stone was not laid until the loth of December.
In the dark hours of the night of April 25th, 1910, after an
illness of four days and almost entirely free from suffering,
she who had shared with me the joys and sorrows of over half
a century was called to her reward. She passed from this life
as she had passed through it — gently and uncomplainingly.
I was left in the midst of a gloom that I thought would be for-
ever black ; for six out of our eleven children had preceded their
mother, whose spirit on that night was reunited with theirs.
I was soon to find, however, how true it is that "The Lord tem-
pers the wind to the shorn lamb." Common misfortune and
common memories made but stronger the tie, always strong,
between my children and myself. Time has performed his
kindly offices: he has changed the anguish of grief to the
solace of recollection ; and in assisting me to realize that I was
permitted so long and so happy a companionship, he has
turned my heart from its first bitterness to lasting gratitude.
CHAPTER XLIII
RETROSPECTION
I91O-I913
A T one o'clock in the morning of October ist, 1910, occurred
/\ the most heinous crime in the history of Los Angeles.
■* ^ This was the dynamiting, by the evil element of union
labor, of the building and plant of the Los Angeles Times,
resulting in the sudden extinction of no less than twenty
human lives and the destruction of the property of the corpora-
tion. The tragedy, lamented in obsequies of the most im-
pressive kind ever witnessed in this city, was followed by the
construction, on the same site and at the earliest moment, of the
present home of the Times. The trial of some of those deemed
responsible for this disaster brought to the fore John D.
Fredericks, District Attorney' in 1900, 1902, 1906 and 1910.
Not the least of the many and far-reaching losses entailed
through the ruin of this printery was a History of the Medical
Profession of Southern California by Dr. George H. Kress, with
an introduction by Dr. Walter Lindley — a work of extended
research almost ready for publication. After all such material
as could be saved from the ruins had been assembled, an
abridged edition of the volume once planned was issued.
In strong contrast to this annihilation of man by his brother,
were the peaceful exercises marking the afternoon of the pre-
vious Sunday, June 19th, when the Kaspare Cohn Hospital, on
Stephenson Avenue, was dedicated; a worthy charity made
' In 1914, Fredericks was the Republican candidate for the Governorship of
California.
641
642 Sixty Years in Southern California [1910-
possible through the munificence, several years before, of the
pioneer after whom the hospital is named.
As Superintendent of City Schools here for four years
beginning in 1906, C. E. Moore laid the foundation for that
national reputation which, in July, 1910, led to his being called
as a professor to Yale University.
Jacob A. Riis, the famous Danish-American sociologist, who
was so instrumental in cleaning up New York's tenement dis-
tricts, visited Los Angeles for the fourth time, on March loth,
191 1, lecturing at the Temple Auditorium on "The Battle with
the Slum."
The City Council having created a Harbor Board, Mayor
George Alexander, in October, 1909, appointed Stoddard Jess,
Thomas E. Gibbon and M. H. Newmark as Commissioners.
In March, 191 1, at a popular election, the Board was made a
charter body, and Mayor Alexander reappointed the gentlemen
named. Owing, however, to the numerous difficulties thrown
in the way of the Commissioners in the accomplishment of their
work, M. H. Newmark resigned in December, 191 1 and Stoddard
Jess in January, 1912 ; while Thomas E. Gibbon, for many years
one of the most formidable advocates of a free harbor, met
with such continued obstacles that he was compelled, in the
summer of 1912, to withdraw.
Having left Los Angeles, as I have said, in 1879, Myer J.
Newmark made San Francisco his home until December, 1894,
at which time he returned here and became associated with
Kaspare Cohn. In December, 1905, he once more took up his
abode in San Francisco where, on May loth, 191 1, he died at
the age of seventy-two years.
The first issue of the Los Angeles Tribune, a wide-awake
sheet projected by Edwin T. Earl, owner of the Express, ap-
peared on July 4th, flying the banner of the Progressive party,
but making its strongest appeal for support as the first one-
cent morning newspaper on the Coast, and a readable journal
advocating the moral uplift of the community. Like all the
other newspapers of this period, the Tribune was illustrated with
photo-engravings.
I9I3I Retrospection 643
In 191 1, "William R. Hearst, of national newspaper fame,
bought the Los Angeles Daily Herald, making it at the same
time an evening newspaper and placing it under the manage-
ment of Guy B. Barham. The latter had come to Southern
California with his father, Richard M. Barham, who located in
1873 at Anaheim, conducting there the old Planters' Hotel.
After school was out, Guy did chores. Graduating, he worked
for Hippolyte Cahen, the Anaheim merchant; then he kept
books for Eugene Meyer & Company, and in time became
Deputy Internal Revenue Collector. For some years he has
been a Custom House broker, in which activity, in addition
to his newspaper work, he is still successfully engaged.
The Federal Telegraph Company, which had established it-
self in Los Angeles in the fall of 19 lo, inaugurated in July, 191 1
a wireless service with San Francisco and other Coast cities;
and just a year later it effected communication with Honolulu,
although oddly enough at first, owing to atmospheric condi-
tions, it was necessary to flash all messages across the waste
of waters during the night. For some years, the giant steel
masts erected by the Company in the southwestern part of the
city have puzzled the passer-by.
At half-past three o'clock on November 28th, I turned the
first spadeful of earth in the breaking of ground for the Jewish
Orphans' Home of Southern California. This privilege was
accorded me because, in response to the oft-expressed wish of
my wife to assist those dependent children bereft of their
natural protectors, I had helped, in a measure, shortly after
her demise, to assure the success of the proposed asylum.
Sixteen years after Colonel Griffith J. Griffith agreeably
surprised Los Angeles in the presentation of Griffith Park, his
munificent bounty again manifested itself in another Christmas
donation, that of one hundred thousand dollars for the con-
struction of an observatory on Mount Hollywood, the highest
point in Griffith Park. Incidental to the making of this gift, due
official recognition of the Colonel's large-heartedness was
displayed at a public meeting in the City Hall, in which I
had the honor of participating.
644 Sixty Years in Southern California U9«>-
M. A. Newmark & Company in February, 191 2 removed
to their present quarters on Wholesale Street — a building (it
may some day be interesting to note) five stories high with a
floor space of one hundred and thirty thousand square feet.
In common with the rest of the civilized world, Los Angeles,
on April 15th, was electrified with the news of the collision be-
tween an iceberg and the great ocean steamer Titanic which so
speedily foundered with her 1535 helpless souls. For a day or
two, it was hoped that no one with Los Angeles connections
would be numbered among the lost; but fate had decreed
that my nephew, Edgar J. Meyer, a son of Mr. and Mrs.
Eugene Meyer, should perish. He was one of those who
heroically hastened to the aid of the women and children; nor
did he rest until he saw his wife and child placed in one of the
lifeboats. They were saved, but he went down, with other
gallant men, among whom I may mention Walter M. Clark,
son of J. Ross Clark, of this city.
Nor can I refrain, while mentioning this awful catastrophe,
from alluding to another example of courage and conjugal
devotion' than which, perhaps, neither song nor story portrays
one more sublime. As the huge liner was sinking into the dark
abyss, one frail woman declined to become the beneficiary of
that desperate command, ''Women and children first! " The
wife of Isadore Straus, unafraid though face to face with
Death and Eternity, still clung to her loyal husband, refusing,
even in that terrible moment, to leave him. She chose rather
to die by his side; and as the black sea roared out its chill
welcome, it received one who, in the manner of her going, left
a precious heritage for all mankind.
Through a high school friendship of my son Marco I came
to know quite well one who, though physically handicapped,
acquired much international fame. I refer to Homer Lea, a
native of Denver, who came to Los Angeles in 1890, at the age
' Even while this manuscript is being revised, the name of another Angeleno —
that of the lamented A. C. Bilicke, a self-made man of large accomplishments,
who perished on May 7th, 1915, in the awful destruction of the Lusitania — is
added to the scrolls of the ill-starred.
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1913I Retrospection 645
of fourteen, studied at the High School, Occidental College and
at Stanford, and then conceived the monumental idea of freeing
the Chinese from the despotism of the old Manchurian dynasty.
Making his first trip to China in 1900, he took an active part
in a revolutionary campaign; and returning to America a
Lieutenant-General and a force in the Chinese Republican party,
he devoted himself to drilling Chinese troops, and to literary
work, some of his writings, notably The Valor oj Ignorance, when
widely translated, bringing him repute as a military strategist.
Having married Mrs. Ethel Powers, General Lea, late in 191 1,
joined Dr. Sun Yat Sen, the Chinese leader, and proceeded with
him from London to Shanghai, only to arrive there after the
revolution had actually started. Even then success was not
to crown his labors; during the convention called to establish
the Republic, General Lea was stricken with paralysis and his
public career was at an end. He returned to Southern Cali-
fornia; and at Ocean Park on November ist, 1912, while looking
out toward the land that he loved so well, Homer Lea yielded up
his soul. He was not destined to see the fulfillment of his
dream ; but when the people for whom he labored shall some day
have established a true democracy, his name will loom large in
their history.
In December, the Museum of History, Science and Art, so
favorably situated in Exposition Park, was informally opened"
to the public under the scholarly administration of Dr. Frank S.
Daggett, who had been appointed Director the year previous;
and during the few months following. Professor Daggett, backed
by the Board of Supervisors, carried forward with such enterprise
the excavations of the pits at La Brea rancho that, before the
ornate building was ready to receive the finds, a unique col-
lection of fossils invaluable for the study of California fauna
had been assembled. The discovery of these evidences of
primeval animal life, already concentrating the attention of the
scientific world, may well be regarded with pride by every
Southern Calif omian ; while the proper housing here of precious
souvenirs recalling those whose lives have contributed so much
" The formal dedication took place on November 5th, 1913.
646 Sixty Years in Southern California Upio-
to making Los Angeles what it was and is, will permanently
add to the attractions of the Southland.
Pluckily resisting the inroads of an insidious disease, yet
cheerful under all the discouraging circumstances and as deeply
interested as ever in the welfare of this community, Charles
Dwight Willard has been confined to his home for many months.
On my last visit I found him very feeble, ' though still fired with
a resistless enthusiasm; the power of his mind asserting itself
over the flesh in forcible, if quiet, expression. We sat in a
comfortable little bower at his home on San Rafael Heights,
with Mrs. Willard, his faithful companion; and after he had
uttered an earnest desire to see these memoirs published, we
chatted about his life and his activities here. Born in Illinois
and graduating from the University of Michigan, an affection
of the lungs, brought on by an attack of typhoid fever, induced
him in 1 888 to come to Los Angeles in search of a milder climate.
His first occupation here was to serve as a reporter for the
Times, and then for the morning Herald. In 1891, he was
elected Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce ; and during the
six years of his incumbency he raised the membership from
one hundred and fifty to a thousand, at the same time contribut-
ing in a powerful manner to the leading part played by this
organization in the fight for a free harbor. During that period
also, in conjunction with Frank A. Pattee and Harry Brook
(both well-known wielders of the pen), he started the Land of
Sunshine (six months later taken over by Charles F. Lummis,
as editor, and in 1 902 renamed the Out West Magazine;) while
in 1897 he assumed the management of the Los Angeles Express,
from which he resigned two years later. In 1892, he organized
with others the Municipal League, serving it ever since as either
Secretary or Vice-President, and in the same energetic way in
which he toiled as Secretary of the Associated Jobbers. In
his literary capacity, Willard has been equally efficient, being
the author of a compact History of Los Angeles, a History of
the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, The Free Harbor Contest
■ During the night of January 2ist, 1914, Willard died — on the anniversary of
his birth.
1913] Retrospection 647
and a high school text -book on city government, all of which, as
well as contributions to the San Francisco Argonaut, have
been favorably received by a discerning public.
Frank Wiggins' name is considered by many of his friends
a synonym for that of the Chamber of Commerce. Like his
predecessor, Charles D. Willard, Wiggins came to California
for his health ; and upon its restoration, identified himself with
the Chamber of Commerce on September 17th, 1889, becoming
Secretary in 1897. Although ferociously bewhiskered, he is
the mildest and best-natured man in town. He has had charge,
in all parts of the country, of many exhibits so unique and
so successful that he is known from coast to coast.
On May 24th, 19 13, while many thousand people were
assembled at Long Beach for a Southern California celebration
of Empire Day, one of the worst of local catastrophes occurred
through the caving-in of the defective floor of a crowded danc-
ing pavilion. Medical and police aid were at once despatched
from Los Angeles; but the result of the accident, the death of
forty persons and injury to many more, cast a deep spell over
the two cities.
Dr. Charles F. Lummis, assisted by other public-spirited
men and women of Los Angeles including Lieutenant-General
Adna R. Chaffee' (the first President), Joseph Scott, Mrs.
Clara B. Burdette, Miss Mary E. Foy, M. H. Newmark and
William Lacy, on the last day of 1907 incorporated the South-
west Museum.^ On the ist of March, 1910, Dr. Lummis, cele-
brating his fifty-first birthday, conveyed to the Museum his
priceless collection of Americana. A sightly eminence of seven-
teen acres near Sycamore Grove was secured ; and on November
i6th, 1912, ground was broken with the formalities usual to such
events, the first spadeful being turned by Miss Elizabeth Benton
Fremont, daughter of the Pathfinder, followed by General
' Died on November ist, 1914.
' The present officers are: President, Dr. Norman Bridge ; Vice-Presidents, Mrs.
Clara B. Burdette, Joseph Scott and J. S. Torrance; Founder Emeritus, Charles
P. Lummis; Treasurer, Stoddard Jess; Curator, Hector AUiot; Directors, Dr.
Norman Bridge, Robert N. Bulla, Mrs. Clara B. Burdette, E. P. Clark, Charles F.
Lummis, Dr. J. A. Munk, M. H. Newmark, Joseph Scott and J. S. Torrance.
648 Sixty Years in Southern California [1910-
ChaflFee and Dr. Lummis. An inspiring feature of the day was
the raising by Miss Fremont and General Chaffee of the same
flag that on August i6th, 1842 General Fremont had unfurled on
the crest of the Rocky Mountains. On this occasion Henry W.
O'Melveny presented a certified check for fifty thousand dollars,
the bequest of Mrs. Carrie M. Jones. This auspicious beginning
was followed, on July 9th, 1913, by the pouring of the first con-
crete. ' How broadly and well those have built who planned
this much-needed institution may be seen from both the distin-
guishing architectural features of the structure, including the
caracole tower of cement, and the location — one of the most
notable occupied by any museum in the United States.
Dr. J. A. Munk, an Ohioan, to whom I have just referred,
has not been in Los Angeles as long as many others, having
arrived only in 1892, but he is known among his friends for his
charming personality, and among historians and scientists for
his splendid collection of Arizoniana — commenced on his first
trip to Arizona in 1884 — all of which has been given to the
Southwest Museum.
Among the features of the Southwest Museum is the
large square, or so-called Torrance Tower, the funds for which
were generously provided by Jared S. Torrance, whose resi-
dence in Pasadena dates from 1887. In that year he came from
the Empire State; and ever since he has been an active par-
ticipator in the development of Southern California. The
town of Torrance is an example of his enterprise.
My sixty years' residence in Los Angeles has been by no
means free from the ordinary family cares, vicissitudes and
sorrows, and it seems proper that I should refer to the physicians
who, in times of illness, have ministered to the comfort of my
home and its inmates. Our first doctor was John S. GrifEn,
and he continued in that capacity until I left for New York.
Shortly before 1873, Dr. Griffin, whose advancing age compelled
'On December 6th, 1913, the comer-stone for the building already looming
large was laid by the Rt. Reverend Thomas J. Conaty — the broad-minded,
scholarly and much-respected Bishop of Monterey and Los Angeles, who died
on September i8th, 1915 — and by General Chafiee.
1913] Retrospection 649
him to withdraw from general practice, had been calling Dr.
Joseph Kurtz into consultation ; and it was then that the latter
became my family physician. For a short time, I con-
sulted Dr. Charles A. H. De Szigethy, a relic of the old school,
whose nauseating doses were proverbial; and then Dr. John
R. Haynes, now well known as an advocate of Socialism, who
had arrived from Philadelphia in May, 1887, assumed the re-
sponsibility. Again a long period elapsed before events caused
a change. In the year 1897, my nephew, Dr. Philip Newmark,
came to Los Angeles from Berlin and succeeded Dr. Haynes.
Notwithstanding these mutations and cares, my friends
have often insisted that I am quick and perhaps even sprightly
for my age, and have more than once asked to what I attribute
this activity and alertness. It is due, I think, first, to the
inheritance from my parents of a strong constitution; and,
secondly, to the preservation of my health by a moderate,
though never over-abstemious, manner of living.
To begin with, ever since I traveled with my father in
Sweden, I have kept my mind healthfully employed, while I
have never long deprived myself of rest. I have also always
used tobacco and liquor in moderation ; and in this connection
I can testify that, although wine and beer were at the free dis-
posal of my children, they have grown up to use it either most
temperately or not at all. This fact I ascribe to liberal views
on such subjects ; for it has always been my belief that to pro-
hibit is to invite, whereas to furnish a good example and at the
same time to warn, is to insure rational restriction and limita-
tion. In short, in preparation for a vigorous old age, I have
followed as closely as I could the ancient ideal, "A sound mind
in a sound body."
At the age of nineteen, I came to Los Angeles; and after a
lapse of exactly sixty years — that is, on October 21st, 1913 — I
find myself completing these reminiscences, ruminating on the
past, and attempting a prophecy for the future.
A battle of eighty years with the world cannot, in the nature
of human affairs, leave any man or woman unscarred; but I
have learned many things, and among them the consolations of
650 Sixty Years in Southern California [1910-
philosophy. It would be presumption on my part to make
complaint against the inscrutable decrees of that Providence
which guides the destinies of us all; I dwell, rather, on the
manifold blessings which have been my lot in this life — the
decision of Fate which cast my lines in the pleasant places of
Southern California; the numerous excellent and estimable
friends whom I have met on life's highway; the many years of
happiness vouchsafed me to enjoy; and, finally, whatever
degree of success has attended my more serious efforts.
When I came, Los Angeles was a sleepy, ambitionless adobe
village with very little promise for the future, The messenger
of Optimism was deemed a dreamer; but time has more than
realized the fantasies of those old village oracles, and what they
said would some day come to pass in Los Angeles, has come
and gone, to be succeeded by things much greater still. We
possessed however, even in that distant day, one asset, intangi-
ble it is true, but as invaluable as it was intangible — the spirit
popularly called "Western," but which, after all, was largely
the pith of transferred Eastern enterprise. This characteristic
seized upon a vast wilderness — the same which Daniel Webster
declared, in the Senate of the United States, unworthy of
membership in the sisterhood of States; and within this exten-
sive area it builded great cities, joined its various parts with
steel and iron, made great highways out of the once well-nigh
impassable cattle-paths, and from an elemental existence
developed a complex civilization. Nor is there to-day in all this
region a greater or finer city than fair Los Angeles.
Many of us saw it grow; none of us foresaw that growth,
even from decade to decade.
"Westward the course of empire takes its way." When
Bishop Berkeley so poetically proclaimed this historic truth,
even he could hardly have had in mind the shores of the Pacific ;
but here we have an empire, and one whose future is glorious.
This flourishing city stands, in fact, with its half million or more
human beings and its metropolitan activities, at the threshold
of a new era. The operations of Nature change so slowly as to
show almost no change at all: the Southern California of the
I9I31 Retrospection 651
coming years will still possess her green hills and vales, her
life-giving soil, her fruits, flowers and grain, and the same sun
will shine upon her with the same generous warmth, out of the
same blue sky, as ever. The affairs of men, on the other hand,
change rapidly. After gigantic labor initiated but ten short
years ago, the Panama Canal is dedicated to the use of man-
kind, and through its crowded waters will come the ships of
every nation, bringing to the marts of Los Angeles choice pro-
ducts to be exchanged for our own. For this and other reasons,
I believe that Los Angeles is destined to become, in not many
years, a world-center, prominent in almost every field of human
endeavor; and that, as nineteen hundred years ago the hum-
blest Roman, wherever he might find himself, would glow with
pride when he said, " I am a Roman ! " so, in the years to come,
will the son of the metropolis on these shores, wheresoever his
travels may take him, be proud to declare,
"I AM A CITIZEN OF LOS ANGELES!"
INDEX
Abalones, 427; shells as jewelry, 261; gatherer
trapped, 428
Abarca, Luis (Louis), 63
Abarta, Senonta, 526
Abbotsford Inn, 566, 627
Abbott, William and Mrs. (ne,, Garcia), 186
Abell, J. B., 543
i^bila, Francisco, 100
i^bila, H., 403
^bila, Jos6 Maria and Senora, 100
Abila ranch, 447; springs, 210
Abolitionists, 296, 308
Acacia latifolia, 544
Acapulco, 359 .
Acorns, as Indian food, 203
Acqueduct, Owens River, 50
Active, U. S. ship, 251
Adams, Lionel J., 636
Adams, Professor, 419
Adams Street, 459
Adams & Co., 242
Ada Hancock, disaster to steamer, 75, 109,
132, 154. 295. 300, 316,319. 329
Adelsdorfer Bros., 120
Adler, Adelaide (later Mrs. Samuel Hellman),
142
Adler, Caroline (later Mrs. I. M. Hellman),
142
Adobe, municipal and county, 36, 40, 41, 209,
256, 324. 338, 530
Adobes. 31, 32, 38, 61, 62, 63, 65, 66, 67, 73,
76, 78, 80, 81, 94, 97, 99. 100, loi, 103,
104, 109. 113. IIS. 119. 121. I2A, 134. 147,
165, 167, 193. 197, 202, 220, 256, 257, 263,
293. 317, 335. 343. 347. 372, 376, 396, 444,
466, 492, 510, 518, 620
Adrienne Lecouvreur, Modjeska in, 494
Advertisements, 137. ISL I77, 281, 292, 297,
396, 422, 465, 469, 486, 492, 558; pictures
in, 356
Advertising, freak, 571; boom — , 573 ff-
.iEneas, xiii
Africa, 193. 2ir
Agricultural Park, 462, 640; — Society, 426
Agua Caliente, 50, 92, 414
Aguardiente, 134, 278
Aguilar, Casildo, 147
Aguilar, Crist6bal, 66, 98. 100, 120, 366,445
Aguilar, Jos6 Maria, 210
Aguirre, Jos6 Ant6nio, 174
Aguirre, Martin G., 551
Alameda Street, 63, 112, 187, 197.201, 304.
383. 394. 400, 408, 493, 562
Alamitos, Los, 599- 520
Alaraitos Bay. 374. 630
Alamitos ranch, 166, 329
Alaska, 397. 463. 602
Albacore, 628
Albino, exhibition of, 186
Albuquerque, 222
Aider, 197
Alder, Captain, 251
Alexander, David W., 23, 35, 38, 43. 61, 64.
74. 120, 218, 343, 350, 441, 500; Mrs. —
(formerly Mrs. Francis Melius), 227; — &
Banning, 218; — & Melius, 62, 151
Alexander, Frank, 206
Alexander, George, 639, 642
Alexander, George C, 74, 194, 297
Alexander, Henry N., 39, 241, 260; Mrs. — , 39
Alexander, Ram6n (Raimundo), 59. 64. 193
Alexandria Hotel, 77, 639
Alfilaria, 126
Alhambra and A. Tract, 445, 454, 563, 628
Alisal, El, 543
Alisot El, 198
Aliso, meaning of, 197
Aliso Mill, 198, 218, 303, 499
Aliso Road, 198, 412; — Street, 71, 112, 197.
ig8, 238, 288, 292, 400
Aliso Vineyard, 197, 198
Allanson, Horace S., 62, 256
Allen Block, 372
Allen, Charles H., 532
Allen, Gabriel, 221
Allen, Jesse, 414, 416
AUiot, Hector, 635, 636, 647
Alosta, 579; Lamar's Addition to, 579
Alia California, 270
Altadena. 178, 337
Alta Vista, 579
Alton, John. 606
Altschul, Richard, 230
Alvarado house, the, 115
Alvitre, Felipe, 139
Alvitre, Jos6 Claudio, 147
Amat. Thaddeus, 189, 279
America, foreign ideas as to, 361
America, steamship. 149
American Bakery, 405
American boy, first born here, 33
American Colony, 521
American Express Co., 234
American Fork, 155
Amestoy, Domingo, 310. 421; — Building, 537
Amigo del Pueblo, El, 308
Amigos, Los dos, 64
Amo, Dr. del, 174
Amusements, 102, 124, 135, 161, 182, 183. 186,
192, 229, 263, 282, 286, 318, 352, 372, 381,
383, 384, 409, 422, 463, 488, 547, 569, 592,
596, 605
Anaheim. 177, 212, 309, 329, 376, 398, 401,
406, 441, 451, 526, 580, 593
Anaheim, proposed County of, 406, 593
Anaheim Gazette, 414
Anaheim Landing, 366
Anchorage, 404
Ancon, steamer, 465
Anderson, D., 83, 297
Anderson, J. A., 638
Anderson, John, 476
Anderson, W. P., 627
Andersonville, 293
653
654
Index
Andrews, Harry E., 6r6
Anecdotes, 43, 51. 52. 53r 56, 82, 141, 151,
155, 162, 175,176, 177. 183. 190, 196,222,
269, 283, 300, 301, 325. 336, 337, 338, 345.
419, 458. 474. 492, 523. 579- 59S, 610
Angelus Hotel, 508
Angels, City of the, 25, 68
Animals, Society for the Prevention of Cruelty
to. 548
Antelope Station, 415
Apablasa, Juan, 31
Apache Indians, 188,415
Apothecaries' Hall, 156
Appleton & Co., D., 589; Appleton's Journal,
430
Apponyi, C. E., 559
Arbuckle, Samuel G., 36, 65
Arcade Depot, 112
Arcadia, 574, 578, 579
Arcadia Block, 77, 186, 214, 226, 229, 256,
272,293, 309. 313. 338, 342, 343- 537, 54$
Arcadia, Dona (see under Baker, Bandini,
Stearns)
Arcadia Hall (see Stearns Hall)
Arcadia Hotel, 314, 568, 580
Arcadia Street, 226, 408, 518
Archffiological Institute of America, 626
Archer Freight and Fare Bill, 489
Archibald, John, 412
Archives, L. A., removed to San Francisco, 231
Ardinger, William C, 150
Arenas, Luis, 179, 210
^rgowa«/, San Francisco, 525,647
Arguello, Concepci6n, 99
Arguello, Maria Ant6nio, 473
Arguello, Refugio, 255
Arg;uello, Santiago, 99, 177, 255
Arizona, 222, 354, 361, 366, 370, 414, 430,
431, 450, 507, Sio, S14. 542, 387. 648
Arizona, Bibliography of, 636
Arizoniana, 648
Arlington Heights, 357
Armory Hall, 205; new — , 579; — , San Fran-
cisco, 312
Armour, Phil D., 582; — & Co., 582, 623
Arnold, Thomas, 422
Arroyo de los Reyes, 450
Arroyo Seco, 225, 401, 448
Artesian wells and water company, 192, 313,
574
Arza, Syriaco, 262
Asparagus, 125
Asphalt, 114; for sidewalks, 114, 287
Aspinwall, 315
Assay ers, 130
Associated Jobbers of Los Angeles, 619, 63S»
637; of Southern California, 619
Atchison, Topeka & Santa F6 Railroad, 63,
83r 123. 153. 482, 556. 562, 569, 570, 576,
S8i, 585, 597, 603, 614, 619; coast line,
589; depot, 477, 586; first train, 549
Atkinson, Samuel, 393
Atlantic & Pacific Railroad, 614
Atlantic States, imports from, 151
Auctioneers and auctioneering, 155, 281, 349,
379, 483, 484. 523. 578. 580
Austin, Henry C, 427, 434
Australia, 160, 439, 544; noted — n convict, 21
Austria, 564; Austrian Verein, 584
Automobiles, 626
Avalon, 430, 522, 568
Averill, Anna, 533
^viation meet, first, 639
Avila, Juan, 262
Axtell, S. B., 397, 399
Ayers. James J., 427, 499, 501, 556, 614
Ayuntamiento, 100
Aztec, derivation from the, 364
Azusa and Azusa ranch, 87, 162, 174, 326, 476,
578. 579
B
Babylon, xi
Bachman, Felix, 66, 212, 256, 275, 290; — &
Co., 223, 290, 332; — & Bauman, 6r
Baer, Abraham, 337; Mrs. — , 338, 409
Baer, Henry, 337
Baer, John Willis, 566
Bahama Islands, 14
Bahia, Brazil, 451
Bailes, 528
Baker, Arcadia {nee Bandini). 215, 255, 568
Baker, Charles K., 206
Baker, Edward Dickenson, 285
Baker, Francis, 221
Baker, Frederick, xv
Baker, Fred L., 592, 639
Baker, George the, 192
Baker, Horace, xv
Baker, J. H., 447
Baker, Milo, 592; — Iron Works, 592
Baker, R. S., 143, 181, 215, 255, 421, 437. 459.
467. 479. 510, 568, 586
Baker, Mrs. T. J., 214
Baker Block, 70,356, 510, 5i7,5i8,S56
Bakers and bakeries, 77, 191, 244, 311, 332,
367, 368
Bakersfield, 143. 453, 496
Baldwin, E. J. ("Lucky"). 282, 421, 474, 475*
478, SIO, 526; — 's Grain Warehouse, 475;
— Hotel, 475
Baldwin & Co., 130
Baldwin, Jeremiah, 587
Baldwin, John M., 450
Ball, W. F., 551
Ballad of Bouillabaisse, 118
Ballestero, Maria, 99
Ballona, La, 179, 299, 321, 359, 373, 460, 580;
Port—, 581; — Railftiad, 376
Balls, 109, 284, 427
Banbury, Colonel, 379
Bandini, Alfredo, 255
Bandini, Arcadia (later Senora Stearns and
Senora Baker), 255
Bandini, Arcadia (later Mrs. J. T. Gaffey), 631
Bandini, Arturo, 255
Bandini, Dolores (later Mrs. Johnson), 255
Bandini, Dolores (later Mrs. Ward), 631
Bandini, Jos6 Maria, 233
Bandini, Josefa (later Senora P. C. Carrillo),
235-
Bandini, Juan 109, I35, 183, 234, 391, 631;
Senora - — (nSe Estudillo), 255; Seiiora —
{nee Arguello), 253
Bandini, Juan B., 631
Bandini, Juan de la Cruz, 235
Bandini, Juanito, 253
Bandini, Margarita (later Mrs. J. B. Wins-
ton), 183, 25s
Bandits {bandidos), 206, 333, 433
Bangs, Mrs. Emma C, 332
Banks and bankers, 171, 242, 416, 423, 435,
466, 467, 482; first — , 372; b. failures, 423,
479, 482; B. of California, 477, 478; —
of L. A., 423; Commercial ■ — , 472; First
Nat'l — , 472. (See Farmers & Mer-
chants' — .)
Banning, Hancock, 322, 568, 606
Banning, J. B., 322, 568
Banning, Phineas, 23, 35. 42, 74, 157, 199, 218,
236, 248, 250, 274, 276, 283, 296, 301, 306,
313, 320, 321, 322, 327. 343. 345. 346, 353.
354. 3S6, 361, 363, 368, 370, 375. 394- 4io.
412, 421, 426, 441. 495, 500, 307, 548. 562,
368; — Mrs. (nie Sanford), 320; (nie
Hollister), 368, 411; — & Alexander, 187;
— 8c Co., 290. 302, 336, 343. 344. 395; —
& Hinchman, 274, 307. 313
Banning, William, 322, 368
Banquets, 234. 399, 394, 595, 630,
Index
655
Barbecues, 145, 202
Barbers, 137, 297, 396, 412, 420; as sxirgeons,
297
Barcelona, Spain, 490
Barclay, H. A., 520
Barham, Guy B., 643
Barham, Richard M., 643
Barker, Obadiah Truax, 518; — & Mueller,
O. T. — & Sons, — Bros., 518
Barker, partner of Corbitt, 244
Barker, W. A.. 606
Barley, 247, 331, 354, 386, 534
Barnard Bros., 450
Barnes & Co., A. 8., 418
Barnum, P. T., 13
Barracuda, 127
Barrett, Lawrence, 588
Barri, Juan, 62, 65; — & Mascarel Block, 189
Barrows, Henry Dwight, 69, 106, 141, 200,
202, 219, 224, 246. 284^^3x5, 355. 419. 483.
S41, 614; Mrs. — (nee Wolfskiil), 142; {nee
Woodworth), 142; (nee Greene), 142
Barrows, James Arnold, 142; Mrs. — , xv
Barrows, Prospero, xv
Barter, George W., 414
Bartlett, A. G., 68, 579
Bartolo, Paso de, 180
Barton, James R., 36, 55, 81, 118, 139, 179,
206 ff., 223, 244, 275 ; — & Nordholt, 61; —
Vineyard, 281
Bartow, Mrs. R. C, xv
Baruch, Jacob, 367. 425. 6i9. 634. 63S
Baseball, called town-ball, 596
Bashford, Levi, 416
Basques, 310, S49
Bassett, J. M., 450
Bastanchury, Domingo, 310
Batcheller, Charles L., 598
Bathing, in ocean, 466; in river, 116; in zanjas,
322
Baths and bathrooms, 92, 119, 210, 371, 396
Bath Street, 210; — School, 33, 190, 389,
419
Bath, A. L., 358, 614
Bayer, Joe, 231 ;J — & Sattler, 230
Beaches, excursions to, 250, 429, 486, 487;
growing popularity of, 394
Beale, E. F., 143, 222, 285, 459; — 's Route,
222; — & Baker, 437
Beale, Truxton, 460
Beal(l), B. L., 204, 317. 469
Bean, J. H., 50; — 's Volunteers, 47
Beane, Charles E., 446
Beans, 332; castor — , 364
Bears, 195. 291. 337. 447
Bear Valley Mines, 247, 268
Beard, A. S., 36
Beau de Zart, Fred W., 559
Beaudry, Prudent, 61, 70. 73. 128, 132, 142,
164, 165,211, 291, 292, 342 ff., 353, 362,
365. 366, 372, 386, 408, 412, 417, 449. 558,
567, 618
Beaudry, Victor, 241, 386, 5S8, 567
Beaudry Avenue, 74
Beaudry & Marchessatdt, 247
Beaumont, 579
Beckley, Anna McConnell, xv
Beckwith, Jim, 63
Beebee, J. W., 339
Beebe, Richard, 543
Beecher, Henry Ward, 497
Beel, Sigmund, xv
Beer, 123, 230, 258, 272, 273. 402; — gardens,
193. 409. 460
Beers, G. A., 455
Bees and beehives, Si, 127, 494
Beet-sugar, 388; first factory, 598
Behn, John, 64, 86, 364
Behn, Louisa, 364
Behrendt, Casper, 72, 270, 271
Behrendt, Samuel, xv
Behymer, Lynden Ellsworth, 607
Belgian hare aberration, 608
Bell, Alexander, 57, 61, 383. 429; Mrs. — , 38,
61, 133
Bell, Horace, 35. S7
Bell, Jacob, 40, 419
Bell, Major, 224
Bell, Song of the, 1 19
Bell Street, 61
Bella Union, 25, 27, 80, 92, 93. 94. no, 136,
ISO, 154, 169, 1S3, 184, 219, 223, 226, 227,
228, 229, 245, 250, 251, 256, 26s, 269, 271,
272, 291, 306, 316, 327, 341. 347. 348. 349.
354. 3S8, 362, 369, 380, 397. 398, 399, 400,
436, 469. 472
Bella Union, San Francisco, 22
Belleville, 268
Bellevue Terrace, 532, 559
Bells, Plaza Church, loi
Bell's Row or Block, 27, 57, 61, 119. 362
Bellue, Marius, 551
Belmont, the, 559
Belmont Hall, 563
Belshaw (of Judson & — ), 385
Benedict, Samuel W., 476
Bengough, E., and the — School, 494
Benjamin, P. A., 635
Benjaraina, 528
Benner, John, 78; Mrs. — , 527
Bennett, "Hog," 78
Bent, Arthur S., xv
Bent, Henry Kirk White, 386, 443, 446
Bergin, J. J. and W. B., 470
Berkeley. Geqrge, 650
Berlin, University of, 624
Bernard, Juan, 63, 200, 280, 366; Mrs. — , 63
Bernero, George, 554
Bernstein, Fanny, 535
Berry, D. M., 412, 447 ff., 483
Berry, George, 138
Bessie, steamboat, 387
Best, John T., 352
Bethune, 579
Betting on races, 160; with cattle, merchan-
dise, land, 161
Between the Gates, 514
Beythien, Cyrus, 212
Bicknell. Frederick T., 488
Bicknell, John D., 468, 488, 540, 555. 597.
598. 626; — & White, 540
Bicycles, 626
Bien, William, 60s
Biggs, Peter, 60, 137. 138, 330
Bigotry, Russian, 5; a later phase of local
social life, 383
Bilderback Brothers, 424
Bilderback, J. F., 330
Bilderback, Dora, xv ■
Bilderrain, Jesus, 432
Bilicke, A. C., 492, 606, 644
Bill (Hickey), the Waterman, 116, 117, 350
Billiards and b. tables, 81, 261, 384
Billy Blossom, race horse, 282
Binford, Joe, 373, 545
Bird. O. B.. 567
Birdsall, Elias, 339, 340
Bishop, Samuel A., 143; — & Beale, 143, 234
Bishop & Co., 444, S4S
Bissell, W. A., 6i9
Bits (coin), 162, 279, 461; (harness), 159
Bixby, Eula P.. 355
Bixby, John W., 421, 520
Bixby, Jotham, 67, 166, 403, 421, 422, 467,
520; — Sc Co., 521
Bixby, Llewellyn, 67, 421
Black Bess, circus horse, 453
Black, George N., 639
Blacking, early, 4
Black Maria, iiS
656
Index
Blacksmiths, 82, 115, 140, 153, 2i3» 231, 340,
357, 358
Blackstone, N. B., 536
Black Swan, race horse, 160, 161; dray, 279
Black Warrior, race horse, 282
Blair, Widow, 184
Blanchard F. L., 68; — Hall, 68, 536
Blanchard, J. H., 597
Blanco, Miguel, 209
Bland, Adam, 103. 246; Mrs. — , 106
Blankets, Mexican, 29. 158
Bleeding, 297
Blinn, L. W., 606
Blond. J. H., 94
Bloodsworth, Harry, 58
Bluett, W. C, 606
Blue Jim, carrier pigeon, 430
Blue Wing Shaving Saloon, 396
Blum, A., 608
B'nai B'ritti, 314, 338, 339. 608; used for
Christian worship, 618
Boar, wild, 447
Board of Education, 105, 162, 187, 190, 211,
216, 262, 32X, 3S4. 388, S3S, 539. 547. 626
Board of Trade, attempt to organize, 425;
537. 569. 586, 634
Boardman, William E., 246
Boehme, George, 480
Bohen, Daniel, 356; — Lodge, 402
BoUo, Santiago, 78
Bonaparte, Napoleon, i
Bonebrake, George H., 539, 587
Bonita Tract, 579
Bonnets, all of one pattern, 132
Bonshard, F., 413
Book, J. H., 587
Bookbinders, 213, 410
Bookstores, 428
Boom, development of the Great, 569; height
of, 581; collapse of, 582; activities of trick-
sters, 573; advertising during, 573-580;
assessments, 582 ; purchases of land by
non-residents, 582; 174, 232. 367, 379.
556, 559. S60, 563. 568, 569 ff.. 590, 604
Boom, early real estate, 401
Boorham, George, 153
Bootblacks, 396
Booth, Edwin, 494. 588
Booth,' Willis H., 631
Boot-jacks, 87
Boots, 86, 158
Boquist, C. v., xv
Borax and Owens Lake, 387
Bordenave & Co., Emile, 279
Bors, the miller, 351
Boston, clipper-brig, 237
Boston Dry Goods Store, 536
Boston, market for wool, 438; fire, 438
Boswell, James, xi
Bota de agua, 195
Botello, Refugio, 78
Bothnia, Gulf of, 5
Boticas, no
Botiller, D., 63
Boundary League, 622
Bouelle, A., 385
Bouelle, Frank A., 385
Bounties to encourage silk industry, 390
Bouton, Edward, 374, 472
Bovard, F. D., 516
Bovard, M. M., 516, 566
Bowman, Mary, xv
Boyce, H. H., SS5
Boyle, Andrew, 198, 232; Mrs. — , 232; —
Avenue, 220; — Heights, 198, 202, 232,
374. 492, 551, 598
Boynton, H. R., 635, 637
Bradbury, John, 607
Bradbury Block, 513. 614
Bradfield, Mason, 418
Bradfield, Mrs. C. P., 418
Bradley, C. H., 377
Brady, Bill, 160
Brady, James D., 81
Brandy for tropics, 14; S. Calif. — , 200, 238
Branding iron, 83, 242
Brasero, 113
Braun, Frederick William, 469, 589, 619, 635,
637. 638
Brea, 114, 287, 346
Brea rancho, la, 37, 114, 287, 407, 645
Breakwaters, 426, 618
Breckenridge, John C, 282; — Democrats, 285
Breed Block, 192
Breer, Louis, 153. 239
Bremerman, hotel-keeper, 380
Brent, J. Lancaster, 35, 45, 47, los, 178, 243,
295. 325. 512; — ^reet, 47
Brentano, Mrs. Arthur, 71
Breweries: Gambrinus, 258; Henne, 230, 259;
New York, 258; Philadelphia, 197, 500;
brewer at Anaheim, 213
Brewster, "Professor," 527
Bricks and b. making. 63, 83, 115, 226, 233,
256, 269, 3SS, 367, 396; champion b- layer,
550
Bridge, Norman, 595, 647
Bridger, Jim, 171
Bridger, Joe, 421
Bridles, 85, 159
Briefly, John R., 464
Briggs, Mary A., 201, 608
Briggs, Samuel, 201, 280
Brinckerhoff, John, 107
Briswalter, Andrew, 124, 125
Broad Acres, McCoy's Addition to, 579
Broadway, naming of, 466, 511, 588, 592
Broadway Department Store, 613
Broaded, John, 471
Brock, Alvan D.. S74
Brode, Charles, 624
Erode, Hilda, 624
Broderick, David Colbert, 130
Brodie, John P., 190
Brodrick, W. J., 180, 280, 365, 383, 389, 443.
446,461,462, 483, 489,562; — &Reilly, 428
Bromberg, Prussia, 3
Bromley, Allan, xv
Broncos, 243
Brook, Harry, 646
Brookside Vineyard, 281
Broom-making, 261
Brousseau, Julius, 597
Brown, stage-driver, 414, 416
Brown, Dave, 46, 139 ff.
Brown, Jason, 530
Brown, John of Ossawatomie, 530
Brown, Owen, 530
Brown, Thomas B., 363, 587, 597
Brown, Tom, 363
Brown, William M., 444
Brown's Restaurant, 279
Browne, J. Ross, 333
Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, 264
Brownstein & Louis. 601
Brownstein, Newmark & Louis, 601
Browsings in an Old Book Shop, 612
Brun, murdered peddler, 323
Brundige, H. W., 623
Brunson, Anson. 517, 520. 521, 586, S93; —
& Eastman, 476; — Eastman & Graves, 476;
— & Wells, 517
Brunswig Drug Co., 224
Brush Electric Lighting Co., 535
Bry, Theresa, 225
Bryan, William J., 613
Bryant, J. S., 455
Bryant, Joseph, 320
Bryson, John, 538; — Block, 105. 539. S63
Buchanan, James, 163, 214, 219, 231, 239
Index
657
Buckboards, 375. 4I4
Bucket- brigade, 119
Buckskin Bill, 424
Buddin, Henry, 527
Buehner, Valentin, iv
BufFum, William, 67, 381, 466; — & Campbell,
416; — 's Saloon, 405
Buggies, spring, 417
Buhn, Susan, 229
Bulkhead Bill, 269
Bull-fights, 161, 182, 282
Bulla, Robert N., 540, 647
BuUard, Rose, xv
BuUard Block, 67, 115, 229, 240, 449
Bulletin, The Commercial, 559
Bulletin, San Francisco, 284, 285
Bullock's Department Store, 382
Bumiller Block, 530
Bunker Hill, 563. 622; — tunnel, 622
BuHuelo, 102
Burbank, David, 578
Burbank, Luther, 315
Burbank, 578, 579
Burbank Theater, 170, 578
Burdette, Clara B., 588, 647
Burdette, Robert J., 588
Burdick, Cyrus, 90, 127
Burdick, Helen L., 90
Burdick, Lucretia, 106
Burglaries, 486
Burgundy, 398
Burials, 307, 406, 409,430; private — , 494, 520
Burke, J. H., 84. 115, 340
Burland, Captain, 10 ff.
Burlington Hawkeye, 588
Burnett, Sir Robert, 44s
Burnham, R. W., 545, 606, 613, 634
Burns, J. F., 67, 106, 208, 209, 339, 381, 395.
40s, 420, 424, 433, 466; Mrs. ■ — , 209
Burns, Hdtel de, 413
Burns, J. 0., xv
Burns & Buffum, 466
Burr-clover, 126
Burrill, George Thompson, 56, 57, 171, 190
Burrill, S. Thompson, 51, S7
Burros, 272, 544. S83
Burton, George W., and Mrs., 356, 373; — 's
School, 356; Burton's Book on California,
373
Busbard & Hamilton, 490
Business, center of, 214; — conditions in the
fifties, 129; — depression, 334, 339; —
district, extension of area, 518, 570; —
methods, 62, 311; — prosperity, 289; —
specialization, lack of, 189, 280; — , tem-
porary closing of, 65, 81; — , trend north-
ward, 511
Butler, visit of Benjamin F., 522
Butler, George, 217, 389
Butler, Sam, 404
Butterfield, John, 234, 301; — & Co., 234;
— routes and stages, 143, 234, 235, 259,
28s. 361, 375
Butters, First Mate, 154
Butts, William, 133. 447
Caballero, 85, 158
Caballos de silla, 157
Cabbage, 125, 272
Cable railway, first, 546, 563; Boyle Heights
— . 594; Downey Avenue — , 594; Second
Street — , 559. 563. 5941 Temple Street — ,
547, 558, 567. 594; — viaduct, 594; de-
scription of cars, 595
Cachucha, 135
Cactus, 126, 463; — as food, 315
Cafeterias, then and now, 133
Cahen, Hippolyte, 549, 643; Mrs. — , 549
42
Cahen, Simon, 550
Cahen, Sophie, 465
Cahn, Nathan, 540
Cahuenga, 179, 196
Caj6n Pass, 228
Calabozos, 66, 558
Caler, Otmar, 212
Calhoun, John C, 296
Caliente, 496
California, 6, 14; — Constitutional Conven-
tion, 47, 48, 49. 55. 89; admission of — , 22,
93 ; advertising — in the East, 597 ; — Gov-
ernors from the Southland, 109. 269. 378,
540, 598, 617; — Legislature, first speaker
of, i8s; Fourth — Infantry, 318; — soldiers
in the Civil War, 294.295, 300, 353; — at the
Centennial, 497, 498; unhealthy — prosper-
ity, 477; — fauna, 645; — fruits, first car-
load shipments, 51 1 ; California, steamer,
346, 465; California Central Railroad, 581;
— Editorial Association, 525; — Fish Co.,
628; — Hospital, 473; — Silk Center Asso-
ciation, 391; — State Telegraph Co., 307;
University of — , 593; " — on Wheels,
482
California of the South, 589
California: for Health, Pleasure and Residence,
624
California and the Southern Coast Counties,
History of, 620
Californian, 93
Calzoncillos and calzoneras, 158
Camels and camel-express, 222, 234, 297, 281,
316, 418, 543
Camino Real, El, 533. 627; — guide posts, 628
Camp Alert, 303; — Independence, 386; — ■
Latham, 299
Campbell, Alexander, 596
Campbell, Malcolm, xv
Campbell, Thompson, 146
Camphine, imported by J. P. Newmark, 34
Camping, 429
Camp meetings, 195
Camulos rancho, 40, 98, 347, 5II. 53i, 583
Canada de Brea, la, 346
Canal & Reservoir Co., 372, 450
Candidates' announcements, 43, 283
Candles. 34. 183; for lighting tunnels, 502
Cannibal Islands, 93
Canon Crest Park, 591
Canterbury, England, 469
Capitol, the, 612
Capitol Mills and Co., 87, 367
Caracole Tower, 648
Cardenas, Anastacio, 372
Cdrdenas, Ruperto, 373
Card-playing,^5, 81, 230
Cardwell, H. C, 125
Carizosa, Manuel, 549
Carleton, James Henry, 296, 299, 315
Carlisle, Laura E., 389
Carlisle, Robert and Mrs., 168, 197, 347, 348,
389
Carnations, 631
Carnegie Foundation, 567
Came seca, 25
Carpenter, Frank J., 209
Carpenter, Joseph, 209
Carpenter, L., 417
Carpenter, Lemuel, 106, 172, 180, 261
Carpenters, 81, 203, 213
Carr, Charles E., 35, 36
Carr, J. E., 600
Carrera, 160
Carretas, 68, 83 ff., 126, 135, 153, 192, 196,
528
Carriages and c. makers, 83 ff., 184, 417
Carrier-pigeons, 430
Carrillo^ J A., 98, 99, 114, 396; Senora —
{nee Pico), 98; Senora — {nee Pico), 98
658
Index
Carrillo, Joaquin, 56, 57
Carrillo, J. J., 255, 510
Carrillo, Pedro C. and Mrs., 255
Carrillo, Rain6n, 326
Carrington, ship, 121
Carroll, Gabe, xv
Carsley, Bob, 186
Carson, George, 174, 196, 2I7» 421; Mrs. — ,
174, 217
Carson, J- W., xv
Carson, Kit, 187
Carson, Moses, 187
Carson River, 418
Carson Station, 217
Cartago, 387
Carter, Dr., 206
Carter, Nathaniel C, 442, 525; — excursions,
442
Casalinda, 185
Casamiento, 136
Cascarones, 136
Cashin, John, 446
Cashmere goats, 127, 413
Cass, Alonzo B., 469, 484, 625; — Bros.
Stove Co., 484.
Casson, C, 491
Castillo Rapids, 15
Castle, Walter M., xv
Castor-oil mill, 364
Castro, Jos6, 178
Castruccio Bros., S50; James — , 549, SS3
Caswell, Samuel B., 358, 441, 443, 449; — &
Ellis, 358; — , Ellis & Wright, 358
Caswell, W. M., 358, 54s
Catalina (see under Santa Catalina Island)
Catalina, Antiquilies of. 558
Cathedral of Sancta Vibiana, 490
Catholics, Roman, 102, 103, 232
Cattle, 90, 95, no, 160, 215, 263, 302,
332, 334; — , bet on races, 160; branding of
— , 182, 242; — , driven to Utah, 330; — ,
effect of drought on, 329; slaughtering of
— , 302; stampeding of — , 182; — , stolen
by Indians, 275
Cauliflower, 125
Cawston, Edwin, 547; — Ostrich Farm, 547
Caystile, Helen, 512
Caystile, Thomas, 512
Celery, 125
Cellars dug in hillsides, 233
Cemeteries; Evergreen, 104; at Flower and
Figueroa, 104; Fort Hill, 104, 280; Jewish,
104, 122, 317; Protestant, 103, 104, 280,
317; Roman Catholic, 103, 317; Rosedale,
104
Censorship, Federal, 371
Centenary of Los Angeles, 528
Centennial Exhibition, 3S5. 482, 493r 497.
499. 569, 605; — parade, Philadelphia, 498;
celebration in Los Angeles, 50, 365, 593
Centinela Ranch, 44s
Central American village life, 16
Central Avenue, 378
Central Pacific Railroad, 388, 423, 440, 475,
497, 504
Central Park, 417
Century Magazine, 531
Cerradel, Manuel, 326
Cerritos, los, 166; — rancho, 67, 166, 521
Cerro Gordo, 386; — Freighting Co., 388;
i — mines. 385
Chaffee, Adna R., 647
Chamber of Commerce, first, 425, 449, 4So,
482, 489, 498, 503, 569
Chamber of Commerce, present, 334, 569,
589, 622, 634, 647; — Building, 62s
Chamber of Commerce, History of the, 646
Champagne, California, 199
Chandler, Harry, 616
Chaparral, 126
Chapels, private, 103
Chapin & Co., George W., 313
Chapman, Alfred Beck, 46, 52, 335, 351; Mrs.
— , 46
Chapman, A. B., 516
Chapman, J. S., 476, 598
Chapman, Joseph, 87
Chapman, R. B., xv
Chapman, R. H., 594, 622
Chapollin, 232
Chapules, Calle de los, 232
Chapultepec, 232
Charity Street, 232, 355- 535
Charity, Sisters of, 189, 203. 210
Charles, Henry, 206
Charleston Harbor, 352
Charter, City, 587
Chartres Coffee Factory, 405
Chauvin, A. C, 383, 529, 5S0
Chauvin, Laura, 529
Chavez, Julian, 64; — Ravine, 118; — Street,
64
Chavez, Vasquez's aide, 453, 457
Chestnut trees, 163
Chevalier's Apothecary, 371
Chicago, fireat, 431; — Grand Opera Co., 607;
■ — World's Fair, 605
Chicken Thief, the, 220
Children, Society for Prevention of Cruelty
to, 549
Children's Hospital, 70
Childs, M. W., 77
Childs, O. W., 69, 125, 127, 163, 201, 223,
231, 342, 3S3, 423, 428, A62, 495. S16,
543i 573; Mrs. — and the naming o'f
streets, 201, 231; — Avenue, 69; — &
Hicks, 69, 223; — Grand Opera House, 464,
543, 588, 590
Childs, Mrs. O. W.. Jr., 606
Chile, 332, 389, 542
Chilicothe, 364
Chilis, California, 87
Chimneys, 113
China, Revolution in, 645
Chinatown, 31, 434
Chinese, 31, 79, 123 ff., 188, 261, 278. 297.
382, 389, 418, 428, 503; agitation
against the — , 504; at the Centennial, 497;
— feuds, 432; first — here, 123; — goods
and shops, 279, 298; — Government de-
mands indemnity, 435; — junk, 427; —
massacre, 423 ff. ; — music and festivals,
585; — peddlers of vegetables, 514; —
priests and memorial services, 43s; —
trunks, 175; — women, traffic in, 418, 432
Chino, 598; — rancko, 38, 63, 167, 168, 175,
226, 347, 598
Chlapowski, Charles Bozenta, 494
Cholera in Prussia, 4
Cholo, Viejo, 277
Chop-house restaurants, 513
Christian worship in Jewish temple, 618
Christians, church of, 610
Christmas Eve celebration, 102
Chronik, Los Angeles, 388
Chronicle, San Francisco, 455
Chuckawalla (Chucky VallejO. 4^4
Church festivals, 98
Church of Our Lady of Los Angeles, 100
Chute's Park, 463
Chuzzlewit, Martin, 571
Ci6nega rancho, 357, 375. 460
Cienega 6 Paso de la Tijera, 275
Cigarettes, 252, 253; — , use by Vasquez, 459
Cigars, 253
Circuses, 186, 381, 453
Citrus fruits, 88; industry threatened by scale,
544
City Gardens, 200, 460
City Guards, 147
Index
659
City Hall (adobe), 229, 256, 338, 379; (second),
lOS, 539; (present), 314- S9I, 593
City lots, 33, 36. 112, I2S, 322, 379. 402, 539
City Market, auction of stalls, 258
City Marshal, last, 510
City officials, salaries of, 302
City of Paris store, 452, 540
Civic Center proposed, 510
Civil War, 47, 236, 289, 299, 305, 311, 323.
32s. 330, 334. 339. 352, 353, 616; — and
aeronautics, 561
Clamor Publico, El, 156, 333
Clams, 298
Clancy, J. H., xv
Clanmorris, Lord, 422
Clarendon Hotel, 469
Clarissa Perkins, bark, 107
Clark, Alice Taylor, 50
Clark, Arthur, 627
Clark, Eli P., 612, 647
Clark, J. Ross, 599, 644
Clark, Thomas B., 483
Clark, W., 308
Clark, Walter M., 644
Clark, William A., 599
Clark & Patrick, 559
Clark & Sons, Alvan, 567
Clarke, George J., 373, 431, 513
Classen, C. H., 252, 259
Clay, Henry, 93
Clayton Vineyard, 200
Clemente, vineyardist, 202
Cleveland, E. R., 543
Cleveland, Grover, 565, 590; Mrs. — , 474
Clifford, Pinckney, 139
Clifton-by-the-Sea, 632
Climate of Southern California, 271, 370,
382, 448; advertising of, 525, 569, 571
Clinton, E. M., 254
Clock-tower, 241
Clover, Samuel T., 612, 635
Clubs, 230, 272, 383, 409, 473; 545. 600, 604,
607, 624 (see also Turnverein)
Coal, blacksmith, 345; — , shipped at low
rates, 557
Coal Creek, 155
Coal oil refined without distillation, 346
Coast freighting, 331
Coast Line Stage Co., 496
Coastwise boat service, 246, 365
Coates, Foster, 627
Coblentz, Joe, 372
Cock fights, 161
Coffin, Captain, 153
Coffin, John E., 634
Coffins, 208; use of one as bed, 492
Cohn, Albert, 551
Cohn, Bernard, 180, 383, 425, 550, 595
Cohn, Herman, xv
Cohn, Isaac, 409
Cohn, Kaspare and Mrs., 13. 249, 260, 353,
354. 376, 383, 414 ff-. 443. 444. 474. 480, 514.
549. 555. 561, 564. 613; — Hospital, 641;
Kaspare Cohn & Co., 549
Cohn, Max, 451, 549
Cohn, Samuel, 13, 196, 353. 375. 444
Coins, early American, 247; bits, 162, 279;
small coin despised, 247; importation of
foreign, 129, 267
Cole, Cornelius, 294
Cole, Louis M., 248
Cole, Nathan, 530
Cole, Nathan, Jr., 533
Colegrove, 612
Coleman, William T., 55
Colling, B. W., 401
Collyer, Vincent, 431
Colorado River, 38. 227, 228; — Indians, 317
Colorado, proposed State of, 188, 241
Colorado Steam Navigation Co., 473
Colton. D. D., 303, S04; town of — , 549
Comet, 250, 290, 307
Commerce Court, 637
Commercial Bank, 472
Commercial Restaurant, 490, 53S
Commercial Street, 36, 128, 189. 293, 383,
400, 401, 408, 472, 493, 578; New — , 401,
405
Commercial Street wharf, San Francisco, 237
Commercial Union Insurance Co., 280
Commission merchants, 310, 342, 434, 436
Compere, George, 474
Compton, G. D., 340, 516; Compton (Comp-
tonville), 263, 340, 382. 393, 466, 574
Comstock Mines, 474, 477
Conaty, Thomas J., 626, 648
Concord coaches, 417
Confederates and the Confederacy, 295, 30S,
3ir. 318, 323. 325, 337. 338
Confidence Engine Co., No. 2, 464, 500
Congregational Church, 622
Conscription, proposed, 323
Consolidated Electric Railway Co., 612
Consolidation of Los Angeles with harbor
towns, 638
Consianline, steamer, 346, 465
Contessa d'Amalfi, 529
Continental Railway, 397
Continental telegraph, 307
Conway, C. R., 306, 315. 341. 350
Cooper, Bill, 471
Cooper Ornithological Society, 640
Copenhagen, 4, 6
Copley, Thomas, 233
Copp Building, 314
Coquillet, D. W., 544
Corbitt, William, 244; — , Dibblee & Barker,
170
Corn, 366
Coronel, Ant6nio F., 36, 80, 105, 135, 171,
190, 201, 316. 441, 444, 530, 604, 608;
Senora (Mariana, nee Williamson) — ,
444. 530, 604, 622; — chapel, 103; — home,
444. 530
Coronel, Manuel, 36
Coronel, Pancho, 426
Coronel, Ygnacio, 36, 98, 99, IDS, 316; Sefiora,
105
Coronel Collection, 622
Coronel Street, 36
Coroner sleeps in coffin, 492
Corpus Christi, loi
Correr el gallo, 162
Corridors, 113
Corrugated iron buildings, 120, 190
Cortez, 19
Cortez, Hernando, xii
Corzina, Maria, 190
Cosmopolitan Hotel. 252, 469, 525
Cota, Francisco, 304
Cota, Maria Engracia (later Senora Domin-
quez), 535
Cotton, experiments in cultivating, 317
Coues, Elliott, xii
Coulter, B. F., 450, 510, 511, 6ro; — & Har-
per, 372, 511; — Dry Goods Co., 511
Coulter, Frank M., 511, 545
Council Room, intolerable atmosphere of,
50s. 524
County Court, 518; — Judge, first, 518
County Medical Society, 423, 473
County Treasurer, work and emoluments, 260
Court house, — Temple, 40, 240, 242, 286,
449; — . present, 301,452
Court of Sessions, first, 176
Courtier, "Professor." 318
Courtroom, untenantable, 256; — used for
religious services, 246, 314
Courts and court life, 45, 46, 50, 55, 56, 493,
560
66o
Index
Coutts, Cave J. and Mrs. ■ — {nee Bandni), 255
Covarriibias, Jos6 Maria, 216
CovarrubiaSf Nicolds, 592
Covent Garden, 360
Cowan, William K., 625
Cowboy sport, 510
Cow counties, 95
Cows and chickens, legislation governing, 572
Coyote, race horse, 262
Coyotes. 337, 391
Coyotes, Los, 166, 180
Crabb, Alexander, 150
Crabb, Henry A., 205
Crackers, first locally-baked, 77, 288
Cracroft, Mrs., 306
Craig, Robert L., 600, 619; Mrs. — , 600;
— & Stuart, 600; — & Co., R. L., 600
Crank, J. F., 585, 594
Craw, Alexander, 544
Crawford, James S., 390, 446
Crawford, Joseph U., 485
Crawley, J. M., 606
Credit, shaken, 328; — system, little, 130
Creighton, W. W., 495
Crematory and cremations, first, 567
Cricket, steamboat, 326
Criminals and crimes, 25. 31. 35. 58, 68, 139.
205, 221, 223, 304, 323, 324, 326, 327, 330,
333, 394. 418, 4I9» 424. 432, 453. 470, 486,
512, 641
Crocker, Charles F., 324, 504 fl., 524; famous
threat to punish Los Angeles, 506
Croft, Thomas H., 448
Cronica, La, 443
Crosby, Mormon Apostle, 345
"Crown of the Valley," 448
Crusoe's Island, 333
Cruz, Martin, 217
Cuartel, 66
Cuatro Ojos, 76
Cuba, 252, 399, 616
Cucamonga, rancho, 167, 168; — vineyard,
265; — winery, 239
Cudahy Packing Co., 201
Cuisine, native, 133
CuUen's Station, 415
Cupping, 297
Curley, scout, 261
Currency, depreciation of, 311, 319
Currier, A. T., 531
Curtis, E. A., 125
Curzon, Lady, 602
Custer Massacre, 261
Custer, Mrs. George Armstrong, 597
Cuzner, James, 515, 606
Daggett, Prank S., 645
Daguerreotype, first one made here, 94
Daimwood, Boston, 324
Dairies, 289
Daley, Charles F., 206
Dalton, E. H., 162
Dalton, Eliza M., 162
Dalton, George, 04, 162, 174
Dalton, Henry (Enrique), 87. 90, 120, 162,
174. 179. 190. 200, 335, 441, 476
Dalton, R. H., 372
Dalton, Winnall Travelly, 162
Dalton Avenue, 162
Daly, James, 395; — & Rodgers, 395
Dana, Richard Henry, 135. .I97. 226, 227, 255,
296; — Street, 227
Dancing and dances, 136, 183, 402, 427;
licenses for — , 137
Daniel, Pancho, 46, 49. 51. 55. 206, 20S, 223
Danube, shipwrecked brig, 238
Darlow, Gertrude, xv
Date Street, 198
David, a kind of torpedo, 352
Davidson, A., 599
Davies, J. Mills, 537, 543
Davila, Jos6 Maria, 549
Davis, Charles Cassatt, 626
Davis, Charles W., 529
Davis, Jefferson, 222, 331, 337
Davis, Johanna, 75
Davis, M. M., 150
Davis, S. C, 75
Dawson, Ernest, xv
Dawson's Book Shop, xv
Day, Charles E., 587
Dead bodies, robbery of, 320
Dead Man's Island, 290, 426
Dean, hardware dealer, 217
Death Valley, 378, 431
De Celis, A., 516
De Celis, Eulogio F., 251, 443
Decoration Day, 621
Deen, Louise, xv
Deighton, Doria, 65
De la Guerra, Pablo, 48
De la Osa, Vicente, 252
Delano, Thomas A., 147
Delaval, Henry, 303
Del Castillo, Guirado L., 352; Amelia Es-
trella — , 352
De Long, Charles, 143
De Longpr6, Paul, 617
Del ValTe, Josef a, 173
Del Valle, Lucretia, 103
Del Valle, R. F., 98, 103, 469, 511, 517, 628
Del Valle, Ygnacio, 40, 41, 98, 99, 102, 103,
173. 190, 251, 511; — ranch house, 531
Deming, J. D., 87; — Mill, 367
Democratic Press, 339
Democrats, 91, 323, 330, 380
Den, Nicholas, 108
Den, R. S., 107 ff., 371
Denmark, 2, 4, 6, 564, 621
Dentists, 297, 368; itmerant — , 349, 368, 390
Desmond, C. C, 405
Desmond, Daniel, 230, 405
Desmond, D. J., 405, 634
Desmond, William, 155
Desert travel, 312, 316, 354
Desperadoes, 149, 333
De Szigethy, Charles A. H., 649
Deuischer Klub, 230
Devil's Gate, 374
De White, Mrs., 493
Dewdrop Vineyard, 200
Dewey, Samuel, 545
Dexter, race horse, 423
Diaz, Bernal, viii
Diaz, Porfirio, 542
Dibblee, ranchman, 244
Dick Turpin, 4.53
Dickens, Charles, 253, 590
Dickens, Charles, Jr., 590
Dillon, Richard, 529; — & Kenealy, 529
Dimitry, George E., xv
Dimmick, Kimball H., 45, 49, 50
Directories, city, 443, 567; first, 410
Directory, the Weekly, 559
Disasters, 22, 48, 154, 165, 204, 224, 238, 312,
319. 439. 536, 644, 647 (see, also. Droughts
and Floods)
District Court of Los Angeles, 518
Dixie. 301, 338
Dobinson, G. A., 625; — School, 625
Dockweiler, Henry, 251
Dockweiler, Isidore B., 251, 469
Dockweiler, J. H., 251, 606
Dodge, George S., 467
Dodson, Arthur McKenzie. 78, 193
Dodson, James H., 78; — & Co., 258
Dodson, William R.,471
Dodsworth, M., 482, 537
Index
66 1
Dogs, poisoning of, 57
Doheny, E. L., 603
Dohs, Fred. 412
Del, Victor, 490
Dolge, Alfred, 628; Dolgeville, New York and
California, 628
Dolls, French, 370
Dolores, 428
Domec, Pierre, 344
Domestic inconveniences, 335
Domestics, 123, 124, 297, 313
Domingo, J. A., 238
Domingo, Juan, 238
Dominguez, Anita, 51
Dominguez, Crist6bal, 173
Dominguez, Juan Jos6, 173
Dominguez, Manuel, 51, 173, 217, 236, 340,
421, 535; Senora — 535; — chapel, 103;
— Field, 639; rancho — , 35, 214, 217, 244,
246, 340, 639; battle of — , loi
Dominguez, Nasario, 78, 173
Dominguez, Pedro, 39, 173
Dominguez, Reyes. 78
Dominguez, Robert, xv
Dominguez, Victoria, 173,
Dominguez. Victoria (later Mrs. George
Carson), 174. 217
Door-plates, 377
Doors, how fastened, 113
Dorado, El. barroom, Los Angeles. 103; — ,
barroom, San Francisco, 22; — , store, 550
Dorsey, H. P., 118, 143. 144, 163, 214
Dorsey, Kewen H.. 145
Dorsey, Rebecca Lee, 552
Dotter, Charles. 377; — & Bradley, 378
Douglas, Stephen A., 282
Douglass, A., 635. 637
Dow. E. L., 423
Downey, Eleanor, 214
JDowney, John Gately, 35, 66, 68, 109, 169,
189, 214, 269, 292, 307, 322. 323, 334. 340,
346, 355- 362, 366, 372, 376, 388, 399. 423.
426, 432, 434. 440, 441. 442, 443f 445. 449,
462, 483. 498, 502, 516. 521, 537. 541. 578;
Mrs. — , 103,498, 537. 549; — . town of . 180,
340, 362, 367; — Avenue, 322; — Block,
66, 70, 343. 372, 390, 406, 443. 545. 593,
630; — Bridge. 594
Downey, Patrick, 343, 346
Downing, P. H.,301
Downs & Bent. 426
Dozier, Melville, 532
Drackenfeld, B. F., 230
Drake. J. C, 473
Draper, Durell, xv
Drays, 74. 116, 138, 279, 527
Dress, evening, in Los Angeles, 400; native
— 158
Dreyfus, Alfred, 451
Drinking and drunkenness, 24. 25, 31, 32,
58, 60, 369. 4.13, 429, 463
DriscoU, Marjorie. xv
Droughts and their effects, 108, 203, 205,
257. 311, 313. 328. 329, 331, 333, 334. 391.
445. S07; smallpox, incidental to — , 322,
329. 508
Drown. Ezra. 45, 48, 149, 189, 246, 296;
death of Mrs. — , 48
Druggists and drug stores, 109, 185, 371, 461,
589
Drum, Richard Coulter, 247; Camp — , 301,
321; — Barracks, 247, 299. 301, 321, 331,
358, 398. 451
Dryden, William G.. 36, 45. SO fE., 56, 118,
210, 282. 354. 397; Mrs. — (nee Nieto), 51,
Mrs. — \n&e Dominguez), 51; — Springs;
210
Duane, C. P., 150
Duarte, 174. 578
Dubordieu, B., 64, 332
Ducks, 279, 490; wild — , Owens Lake, 387
Ducommun. Charles L., 68 ff., 76, 23s, 291.
346, 423; — Hardware Co., 69; — Street, 69
Dudley. T. H., 603
Duels. 347, 348, 351, 384- S16
Dunann, S. D., xv
Duncan, Father William, 602
Dunham, Ed., 396; — & Schieffelin, 396
Dunkelberger, Isaac R., 411, S14, 587, 589;
Mrs. — ,411
Dunkers, 576
Dunlap. Deputy Sheriff, 424
Dupuy, J. R., 597
Duque, Tomas Lorenzo, 355, 589; Mrs. — ,
589
Durfee's farm, 471
Dutchman, Flying, 351
Du Puytren, Pign6. 541
Dye, Joseph F., 221, 418
Dyer, G. S., 599
Dyer, J. J., 349
E
Eagle, ship, 123
Eagle Mills, 87, 123
Earl, Edwin T., 623, 642
Earthquakes. 165, 204, 312, 439, 620, 633 ff-
East Los Angeles. 322. 445, 539, S48; — Park,
557
Eastman, James G., 501, 593
Eastman. J., 385
Easton, Jim. 335
East Prussia to the Golden Gcte, From, 403
East Side Champion, 548
Eaton, Benjamin S., 45, 50, 66. 316. 336, 448,
561, 614; Mrs. — {nee Hayes), 47, 50;
Mrs. — (nee Clark), 50; — 's Canon, 337
Eaton, Frederick, 50, 66, 90, 106, 446
Ebell Club. 607
Eberle, F. X., 460, 463; Marsetes — , 460
Ebinger, Lewis, 367
Echeandia, Jos6 Maria, 604
Echo, race horse, 423
Echo Park. 372
Eckbahl, Gottlieb, xv
Eckert, Bob, 231
Edelman, A. M., 314
Edelman, Abraham Wolf, 122, 314, 339. Soi»
540, 608
Edelman, D.^W., 314
Edgar. George A., 551
Edgar. William Francis, 58, 227, 614
Edwards. D. K.. 382
Egan, Richard, xv
Ehrenberg, 415
Eichler, Rudolph, 367
Eighth Street, 202
Eintracht Society, 272
Eisen. T. A., 606
Eldridge, Frederick W., 627
Elections, 42, 44. 401.442,613
Electric Homestead Tract, 546; — Associa-
tion, 609
Electric light, distributed from high masts,
535 ; objections to its introduction, 535
Electric railways, first. 462, 546, 594, 609, 612,
620
Elias. Jacob, 70. 118, 122, 203; — Bros., 70
Elizabeth Lake, 457
Elks Hall, 584
Ellington. James, 139
Elliott. John M., 466, 473. 598, 614
Elliott. Thomas Balch, 447, 448; Mrs. — , 448
Ellis College. 566
Ellis, John F.. 358
Elm Street Synagogue. New York, organized
by Joseph Newmark. 122
El Monte (see under Monte)
Elsaesser, A., 230
'662
Index
Elysian Park, 37. 364. 539. 557. 6iS
Emerson, Ralph, 212, 2S7
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 257, 519
Em,erson Row, 257
Emery, Grenville C, 622
Empire Saloon, San Francisco, 22
Empire Stables, 3S7
Employment agency, 138
Ems, 564
Enchiladas, 134
Encino, El, 252, 438
Episcopalians and Episcopal Church, 246,
339. 340. 356, 361, 622
Equator, celebration of crossing, 121
Esperanza store. La, 550
Espinosa, bandit, 209
Espinosa, Ensign, 169
Espionage in Southern California, 299
Estates lost through easy credit, 130, 131
Encino, El, 252, 438
Estranjero, El, 605
Estrella de los Angeles, La, 92, 93
Estudillo, Dolores, 255
Estudillo, Jos6 G., 521, 587
Estudillo, Jos6, 255
Etchemendy, Juan, 311
Eucalyptus trees, 439; notable tree blown
down, 439
Euclid Avenue, 579
Eugenie, Empress, 360
Europe, travel to, 165
Evans, Charley, 205
Everhardt, Joseph, 251. 274, 275; — Mrs.,
442; — & KoU, 251
Evertsen, Laura Cecilia, 89, 315
Ewington, Alfred, xv
Examiner, Los Angeles, 626, 636; — Building,
627; — San Francisco, 627
Excursions, 250, 393, 394, 404, 442, 488, 525;
dependent on subscriptions, 430; — and
fares, 430
Exposition Park, 640, 645
Express, Evening, and Los Angeles, 427, 441,
498, S16, 526, 538, 543. 612, 623, 642, 646
Express business, 138, 373
Express, Pony (see Pony Express)
Ey, Frank, 628
Eytinge, Rose, 498
Fabian, 527
Fair Grounds, 375
Fair Oaks, 316, 337; — Avenue, 316
Fairs, public, 512
Faith Street, 232
Faja, 542
Falcon, steamer, 568
Falkenstein, Germany, 451
Fall, George M., 405
Families, large, 178, 202
Fandangos, 135, 136, 453
Fandangueros, 135
Fares, excursion, 430; — , steamer, 71, 568;
— , railroad, 404
Parish, O. E., 638
Farmers, 126, 354, 363. 393 (see, also, under
Ranchers)
Farmers & Merchants Bank, 63, 70, 404, 423,
465. 467. 476, 478, 481, 565
Farragut, David Glasgow, 328, 350
Farrelly, R. A., 627
Fashion Stables, 499
Faulkner, Charles J., 287
Faulkner, William, 280
Fayal, 404, 405
Federal Building, 67, 444. 604, 630
Federal Government and Secession, 318, 321,
330, 339 ^
Federal Telegraph Co., 643
Feliz, Reymunda, 238
Fences scarce on ranches, 182
Ferguson, William, 377
Ferner 8c Kraushaar, 61
Ferrell, William C, S3
Ferris, Dick, 639
Fiddle used at funerals, 307
Field, Stephen J., 565
Field, Leiter & Co., 602
Fiestas de los Angeles, 605 ff.
Figueroa Street, 104, 125, 232, 380, 450, 548
Fillmore City, 155
Fine Arts League, 640
Finger-bowls, first here, 377
Finland, 5
Finlayson, Frank G., 628
Fires, fire-fighting, and fire companies, 119,
120, 223, 225, 229, 257, 275, 288, 356, 362,
405, 446, 464, 489, 500, 539. 565. 566, 568,
S86, 593. 633. 640; first engine, 446; first
protection, 120; hand-cart, 119; ordinances,
286; racing to fires, 464; San Francisco,
633 ff., volunteer firemen, 446, 464, 539
Fire insurance companies: Phcenix and New
England, 280
Firearms, free use of, 59, 60
Fire-proof buildings, first, 120, 190
Fireworks, 594
Firmin, Point, 581
First Dragoons' Band, 296
First National Bank, 472, 515
First Street, 62, 112, 408, 417, 518, 543. 570
Fischer, John, 212
Fischer, G., 261
Fish and fish trade, 127, 278
Fish, Captain, 152
Fiske, John, xii
Fitch, Tom, 479. s8o
Fitzgerald, Edward Harold, 190, 262
Five Brothers, the, 550
Five Points, New York, 12
Flag presentation, early, 296
Flashner, Marcus, 245; — & Hammel, 24s
Flat Iron Square, 627
Flatau, Herman, 344. 535. 538
Flax, experiments with, 401
Fleishman, Israel, 72, 256
Fleming, A. P.. 638
Fleming, David P., xv
Fletcher, Calvin, 447
Flint, Bixby & Co., 170
Flint, Frank Putnam, 630
Flint, Motley H., 631
Floods, 257, 258, 309, 313, 362, 36s, 412, 541,
551
Floors, earthen, 113
Florence, 388
Flores, Jose Maria, 178, 182
Flores, Juan, 47, 206, 208, 210
Flores, Las, 173, 180, 332, 442
Flour, 322, 331; — mills, 493
Flowers, festivals of, 512; painter of — , 617;
— strewn on waters, 621
Flower Street, 232, 472
Floyd, pavement layer, 519
Fluhr, Chris, 176, 251, 252; — & Gerson, 469
Flying horses, 193
Fogarty, J. J., 634
Foley, W. I., 617
FoUansbee, Elizabeth A., 536
Fonck, Victor, 512 *
Foodstuffs, affected by heat, 88, 287; prices,
331. 332; supply, 88; variety, 124
Foot-bridges, 289, 412
Forbes, A. S. C, 628; Mrs. — , 621, 628
Forbes, Charles Henry, 214
Forest of Arden, 494
Forest Grove Association, 439
Forman, Charles, 172, 477, 573
Index
663
Forster, Francisco (Chico), 526
Forster, Juan, 98, 173. 326. 332, 526, S3i;
Dona — {nee Pico), 98, 173. S3I
Fort Hill, 104, 209, 280, 417
Fort Pillow Massacre, 330
Fort Street, 400, 408, 417, 466, 472, 561;
called Broadway, 511, 592; property values
on, 67, 332, 381; prophecy as to, 466;
widening of, 588
Fort Tej6n, 194. iPS. 207, 234
Fort Yuma, 424
Forthman, J. A., 470
Forwarding, 23, 74, 236, 242, 272, 274, 312,
342, 343, 3SI, 373; toll for, 34s (see Camel-
express)
Foshay, James A., 606, 625
Fossils, excavation of, at La Brea rancho, 645
Foster, F,, 239
Foster, Stephen C, 30, 35. 49. 105, 120, 139,
140, 147, 200, 263, 500; Mrs. — , 263
Foster, Thomas, 107, 108, 118, 156, 189, 203,
246, 312, 321; Mrs. — , 107
Foster, Timothy, 118
Foster & McDougal, 76
Foster Vineyard, 200, 201
Foundry, Stearns, r86, 226
Fountains, 418; presentation to city, 534
Four-story structure, first, 534
Fourth of July celebrations, 47, 157, 193, 273,
300, 321, 330, 428. 429, 499
Fowler, James G., xv
Fox, ostrich handler, 547
Foy Bros., no
Foy, James C, iro,
Foy, James Calvert, in
Foy, John M., no, in
Foy, Mary E., in, 647
Foy, Samuel C.. no, in, 20S, 256, 500, 624;
Mrs. — , 92, 106, 20S, 224
Frame buildings, first on Fort Street, 466; —
of the seventies, 518
France, 564, 621
Francisco, A. W., 606
Francisco, the vender, 629
Francis, John F., 174, 606, 613, 622
Frank. H. W., 216, 606
Franklin, John, 306; supposed records of, 395
Franklin, Lady, visit to Los Angeles, 306, 395
Franklin Alley, 36, 40
Franklin Street, 36, 334. 408
Fraser, A. R., 603
Frazadas, 29
Fredericks, John D., 641
Fredericks, Katherine, 378
Free Harbor Contest, 646
Free, Micky, 413
Free lunches, 303. 402, 571
Freeman, Dan, 421, 445, 510, 606
Freight: dissatisfaction with rates, 504, 506;
high rates, 290, 404; shipment of — , 153
Freighting along the coast, 345, 43s; — by
teams, 290, 416
Fremont, Elizabeth Benton, 625, 647
Fremont. J. C, 61, 99. 156, 171. 173. 178, 272,
297, 514, 597, 612, 648; — Trail, 448
Fr6mont, Jessie Benton, 606, 625; carriage of,
86; gift of residence to, and death of, 625
French, E. C, 483
French. L. W., 368
French, T. B., 121
French Benevolent Society, 303. 338, 402, 500
French bread, 77
French Consul, 254
French Hospital, 402
French language, 341, 450, 528
Frenchmen, 199, 207
French newspapers, 516, 541
French Restaurant, 279
Friday Morning Club, 600
Friediander, Isaac, 331
Frijoles, 134
Frink, E. B., 405; — 's Ranch, 414
Frohling, John, 117, 212, 213. 294
Frosts, 212, 525 ^ ., .,, -
Fruit, sent to the President, 219; peddler of,
126; — grafts, first from New York, 33; —
trees iniported from the East, 139
Fuentes, Jos6 Maria, 549
FuUerton. 577
Fulton, J. E., 483; — Wells, 483
Funeral customs, 306, 307
Furman, George, 464
Furniture, 81, 377
Furrey, W. C, 69. 60s
Fussell, Effie Josephine, xv
Gadsden Purchase, 222
Gaffey, John T. and Mrs., 631.
Gage, H. R., 603
Gage, Henry T., i63, 617; Mrs. — (nie-
Rains), 617
Galatin, 362, 367, 425
Gale, Anita, 170
Gallagher, James, 462
Gallardo, Francisca, 100
Galta, P., 191
Gamblers and gambling, 29 £f., 149, 510 ;
property lost through — , 131; — at San
Francisco, 21, 29
Gamut Club, 625
Ganahl, Frank J., 416, 488
Gan6e, P., 516
Garage, first, 626
Garcia, Francisca, 95
Garcia, Joseph S., 65, 237, 239; Mrs. — , 239
Garcia, Manuel, 206
Garcia, Merced, 186
Garcia, Ygnicio, 66, 67, 335
Gard, George E., 464. 529, 552, 579
Garden of Paradise, 192, 272, 273, 523
Garden Grove, 177
Gardens, few, 54, 69, 114, 124, 147, 163,
192; outdoor — ,273, 275, 340, 410, 463,
500
Gardiner, James, 530
Garey, Thomas A., 91, 483
Garfias, Manuel, 36, 178, 237. 238
Garfield. James A., memorial services here,
529; Mrs. — , resident, 529
Garland, W. M., 606, 639
Garnier Bros., 421, 438; — , Camille, Eugene,
Philip, 43S
Garra, Ant6nio, 50, 168, 169
Garter, Mexican, 158
Garvanza, 578
Garvey, Richard, 282
Gas, 267, 349, 35S, 370. 396. 561, 604; —
fixtures, 355 ; — Co., 349. 561 ; — rates, 489
Gasoline stoves, 516
Gates Hotel, 566
Gattel, Bernhard, 319
Gaviota Pass, 246
Gefle, 4
Gelcich, V., no, 428, 548
Geller, William, 74
George the Baker, 65
Georgetown, 193
Gephard, George, 532
Gerkins. J. F., 510
Germain, Eugene, 510, 537. S8i
German bankers and statesmen, visit of, 539
German Benevolent Society, 272; — of ladies,
527
German bread, 77
German hotels and highways, 564
German language, demand for teaching the,
383
664
Index
German music, 213, 214, 259, 272, 409* 584;
— newspapers, 388, 465, 584; first German
newspaper here, 465; — school, first, 428
Germania Life Insurance Co., 319
Germans and Germany, 207, 212, 272, 378,
4S3. 564, 621; German-born Ameiican citi-
zens, 239; travel in Germany in 1849, 3
Gerson, Charles, 251, 469
Getman, William C. (Billy), 31, 208, 220, 221
Gibbon, Thomas Edward, 595, 606, 642
Gibbons, James, 586
Gibson, A. P., xv
Gibson, C. W., 470, 537
Gibson, Fielding W , 90, 261
Gibson, Frank A., 545, 598, 613
Gieze, F. J., 291
Gift, George W., 294
Gila River, 38, 188, 261; — , passage by emi-
grants, 188
Gilbert & Co., 15S
Gilchrist, Ira, 81
Gillette, J. W.. 614
Oilman's, 414
Gilroy, 234, 497
Ginnochio, G., 549
Gird, Richard, 599
Giroux, L. G., 480
Gitchell, Joseph R., 45, 54, 246
Glaciers, 398, 602
Gladstone, William Ewart, 579; — « proposed
town of, 579, 593
Gladstone, race horse, 593
Glasscock, J. Sherman, xv
Glassell, Andrew, 363
Glassell, Andrew J., 3S0, 352, 363, 423. 488,
517; — & Chapman, 352; — , Chapman &
Smith, 351; — , Smith & Patton, 363
Glassell, Wm. T., 352
Glendale, 177, 424, 578, 579
Glendora, 576, 578. 579
Goats, Angora, 413; — , Cashmere, 413; — .
wild, 216
Godey, Alexander, 272; — 's ranch, 272
Godfrey, John F., 499, S56
Gold, 39, 94. 95. 142. 247, 268, 321, 333, 380,
402, 476; appreciation of — , 319; — bars,
415; — dust, 95, 96, 130, 242; found in
ruins, 223; — mining, 148, 149, 201, 228;
— , searching for, 254. 3i3. 3i8, 386; —
notes, 319; — nugget, 39. 40; — and the
San Francisco Clearing House, 95
Gold Hill, Nevada, 477
Golden Gate, 17. 19. 121, 123, 204, 211,283.635
Golden State, steamer, 306
Gold Hunter, steamer, 22, 152
Goldwater, Joe and Mike, 321
Goliah, 22, 143, 152, 153. 3ii
GoUer, John, 28, 65, 82, 85, 121, 149, 153,
239. 300, 384. 417. 433
Gondolier, 307
Gonzales, Juan, 140
Gonzales & Co., Jos6 E., 308
Goodall, Nelson & Perkins, Goodall, N;lson
& Co., 465
Goodman, Morris L., 150, 213
Goodwin, L. C, 70, 150, 500; Mrs., — , 70
Goodwin, Pat, 357
Gordo, Louis, 369, 370
Gordon, John W., 362
Gordon, Captain, 483
Gordon's Station, 195
Gospel Swamp, 366
Gothenburg, 4, 6, 7. 8, 9
Gould, Will D., 597
Government, messenger to New Mexico, 282;
— stores, transportation of, 354
Graff, M. L., 597
Grand Army of the Republic, 579
Grand Avenue, 232
Grand Central Hotel, 469* 492
Grand Hotel, San Francisco, 430, 440
Grand Opera House, 590
Grand Rabbi of France, 450
Grand, S., 382
Grange stores, 483
Grander, Lewis, 33. 36, 45, 5S, 105
Granite Wash, 414, 415
Grant, U. S., 255, 328, 446, 500
Grapes, 25, 103, 139. 142. I99, 265, 285, 412,
576; — , first sent east, 139; vines grown in
dry soil, 337
Graphic, 612
Grasshoppers, 266
Grasshopper Street, 232
Graves, J. A., 69, 475; — , O'Melveny &
Shankland, 476
Gray, Charlotte, 91
Gray, F. Edward, 634
Gray, William H., 432
Greasers, 140
Great Salt Lake, 302
Greek George, 223, 234, 281, 455. 457. 543
Greenbacks, 319, 380, 522
Greenbaum, E., 72; Mrs. — , mother of first
Jewish child born here, 104
Green Meadows, 40
Greenwich Avenue School catastrophe. New
York, 224
Greene, Bessie Anne, 142
Gregory, John H., 405
Gregson, F. P., 619. 637
Greppin, E. H., 637
Grey Town, 14
Grierson, B. H., 587
Griffin, George Butler, 526
Griffin, John S., 47, 106, 107, 108, 193, 200,
20s, 207, 237. 241,252, 294, 316, 320, 322,
337, 346, 365, 371, 412, 423, 426, 445, 448,
449, 500, 594, 614, 617, 6i8, 648; Mrs. — ,
47. 205, 316- — Avenue, 322
Griffith, Alice H., 476
Griffith, Fred, 546
Griffith, Griffith J., 541, 614, 643; — Park.
614, 643
Griffith, J. M., 190, 290, 340, 356, 428, 441,
449, 466, 476, 546, 614, 636; — Avenue,
636; — Lynch & Co., 466
Griffith, J. T., 606
Gringos, 159, 160, 305, 453
Groningen, Johann, 238
Grosse Building, 627
Grosser, Elsa, 624
Grosser, William F., 623
Grosser Tract, 623
Grosvenor, Gilbert H., xv
Guadalupe, 496
Guatemala, 542
Guerra, Pablo de la, 35, 48
Guerra, Trinidad de la, 336
Guillen, Eulalia Perez, 493
Guillen, Mariana, 493
Guinn, James Miller, 402, 419, 526, 533, 541,
614, 620, 626
Guiol, Frederico, 369
Guirado, Bernardino, 549
Guirado, F. L., 35
Guirado, Francisco, 499
Gunsmiths, 147, 230
Gurley, H. B., 634
Gwin, William McKendree, 296
Gymnasiums, Turnverein, 192, 409, 584,629;
273; petition for a — , 383, 545
H
Haap, Mary, 213
Haas, Abraham, 230, 425, 537; — , Baruch &
Co., 367, 425, 595
Haas, Jacob, 425
Habra, la, 166, 179, 547
Hacienda, 16S
Index
665
Hacks. 306, 389, 417
Hafen, Conrad, 378; — , Hafen House, 378
Haight, Fletcher M., 279
Haight, H. H.. 279
Hail, 314
Haiwee Meadows, 387
Hale, Charles, 77
Haley, Robert, 285, 311
Haley, Salisbury, 22, 152, 181, 204, 311; Mrs.
— , 181
Halfhill. Albert P.. 628
Half-Way House, 25
Hall, Charles Francis, 395
Hall, E. A., s68
Hall, Hiland, 146
Hall, John, 527
Halle University, Germany, viii
Halsey, Dr., 211, 212
Halstead, Wiliard G.. 386
Hamburg-Bremen Fire Insurance Co., 120
Hamburger, Asher, 529; — & Sons, A., 529;
— Building, S93, 639
Hamburger, D. A., 529, 639
Hamburger, M. A., 529, 626
Hamburger, S. A., 529
Hamilton, Harley, 606
Hamilton, Henry, 192, 280, 371, 413, 446
Hamilton, Maggie, 355
Hamlin, Homer, 638
Hammel, Henry, 259, 316, 380; — & Denker,
469, s8i
Hammel, William A., 115
Hammel, William A.. Jr., 115. 634
Hammond, Miss L. J., milliner, 491
Hampton, W. E., 637
Hancock, Ada, disaster, 75, 132, 300, 329
Hancock, George Allan, 37
Hancock, Henry, 34, 36, 37, 104, 112, 149,
500; Mrs. — , 18,37; — 's surveys, 33. 38;
— ranch, 114
Hancock, Winfield Scott, 82, 246, 247, 265,
281, 282, 294, 296, 297, 299, 300, 301, 346.
512; Mrs. — , 300 (see under Hancock, Ada)
Hangtown, 428
Hanlon, John, 591
Hanna, D. W., 566
Hansen, George, 34. 37. 38, 212, 372, 411, 423.
450, 614
Haparanda, 4, 5
Haraszthy, Augustin, 37
Harbor Contest, The Free, 646
Hardison, Wallace R., 622
Hardy, Alfred, 206, 207
Hardy, surveyor, 34
Hard times, 256, 333
Harford, Port, 346
Harmon, J., 371
Harned, J. M., 429
Harper, Arthur C, 372
Harper, Charles F., 371; — & Moore, — ,
Reynolds & Co., Harper-Reynolds Co., —
& Coulter. 372
Harper's Ferry, 530
Harper's Magazine, 547, 597; — Weekly, 590
Harris, Emil, 40s, 409. 425. 433. 434. ASS 2-
Harris, L., 18, 216
Harrison, William Henry, 93, 519
Harrison, Miss. 225
Hart, F. J., 638
Hart, Mary E., 599
Harte, Bret, 32, 42S
Hartley, B. F., 455
Hartman, Isaac and Mrs., 54
Hartshorn Tract, 391
Hartung Edgar J., xv
Harvard School, 622
Harvey, J. Downey. 214
Harvey, T. J., 269
Harvey, Walter Harris and Mrs., 214
Haskell, Leonidas, 272
Hathaway, C. D., 40S ^
Hathwell, Belle Cameron (later Mrs. C. E.
Thom), 52
Hathwell, Susan Henrietta (later Mrs. C. E.
Thorn), 52
Hatmakers, native, 159
Hatter, first, 230, 405; 213
Havilah, 148, 149, 37S
Hawkes, Emma L., 355
Hawthorne, H. W., 404
Hay. high price of, 445, 453
Hayes, Benjamin. 35. 45, 46, 48, 139. 189.
256, SOI, 596; Mrs. — , 46
Hayes, Chauncey, xv
Hayes, Helena (later, Mrs. B. S. Eaton), 47. 50
Hayes, Louisa (later, Mrs. J. S. Griffin), 47,
106, 107
Hayes, Rutherford B., 522, 596
Hayes, R. T., 107, 143, 156, 320, 423
Hayes, T. A., 91
Haynes, John R., 473. 649
Hay-scale, public. 288
Hayward. A. B., 107, 291
Hayward. James Alvinza. 372; — & Co., 372
Hayward Hotel, 192
Hazard, A. M., 74
Hazard, Dan, 74, 415, 416
Hazard, George W., 74, 258
Hazard, Henry T.. 74. 235. 4i5r 433. 442, 446,
521, 584, 590, 594. 606; Mrs. — , 74; — 's
Pavilion, 512, 590, 592; — Street, 75
Healdsburg, 389
Healey, Charles T., 618
Hearst, William Randolph, 626, 643
Heat, excessive, 257
Heath. Samuel M., 91. 92
Hebrew Benevolent Society, 122, 432 ; — ,
Ladies', 409
Hecht, Sigmund, 618
Heinsch, Hermann, 213, 214, 230, 259, 272,
383; Mrs. — , 213; — Building, 214
Heinsch, R, C, 214
Heintzelman, Henry. 35
Heinzeman. C. F., 230, 371
Hellman. H. M., 142, 311
Hellman, Herman W., 53, 142, 248, 383. 425,
449, 608; — , Haas & Co., 425, 500, 506,
595; — Building, 53
Hellman, I. M., 142, 248, 311, 409, 423, 480;
— & Bro., 309, 311, 462, 478, 480, 539
Hellman, I. W., 53, 63, 70, 191, 248, 311. 346,
366, 372, 383, 423, 516, 555, 560. 562, 59s;
— Building No. i. 383; — Temple & Co.,
372, 416, 423; — & Co., 417
Hellman, James W., 69
Hellman, Marco H.. 248
Hellman, Maurice S., 143
Hellman, Samuel. 142, 311, 365, 428, 605; —
& Widney, 311
Henderson. A. J., 304
Henderson Bros., 416
Henderson, John W., 304
Henne, Christian, 230, 259, 334; — Block, 192
Henrickson, Clois F., 401
Henriot, Francois and Mme., 225
Henry steamer, Chancey, 359
Henseley, Captain, 62
Herald, Los Angeles, 450. 498, 516, 556, 595,
607, 612, 614, 622, 628, 643, 646
Herald, New York, 234
Hereford, M., 320
Hereford, Margaret S.. 169
Hereford, Robert S., 150
Hereford, Thomas S., 169
Herodotus, xii
Hester, R. A., 324
Hewitt. Eldridge Edwards, 321, 404, 489, 506
Hewitt, J., 389, 397
Hewitt. Leslie R.. 638
Herrttosa, steamer, 15
666
Index
Hernosand, 4
Hickey, William (Bill, the Waterman). 116,
^^7. 350 „ ^
Hicks, J. D., 69, 142, 217; — & Co., 69, 142
Hides and hide-business, 196, 197. 257. 33i.
408, 613; shipping hides, 197
Higbee, George H., xv
High, E. Wilson, 150
High School, Los Angeles, 301, 419. 452, 532
Hill-property, 376, 460, S5&
Hill Street, 377. 472
Hinchman, A. F., 66, 67, 241, 313
Historical Society of Southern California,
541, 604, 631, 640; open air meeting of, 604
Hodge, Frederick Webb, xii
Hodges, A. P., 107
Holbrook, J. F., 377
Holcomb, William, 268; — Valley and —
Mines, 268, 282
Holder, Charles Frederick, 557
HoUenbeck, John Edward, 357. 461, 473. 492;
, Mrs. — , 598; — Home, 220, 494. 598; —
Hotel, 492, S18, 598; — Park, 598
HoUingsworth, H. T., 449
Hollingsworth, Lawson D. and Mrs., 449
HoUister, John H., 36S, 410, 543
HoUister, Mary, 368, 410
Hollywood, 455. 563. 612, 617
Hollywood, Mount, 643
Holmes, James, 401
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 519
Home of Peace Society, 104, 599
Home Telephone and Telegraph Co., 484
Homes, furnishing of, 113. 124
Honolulu, 156; — , wireless telegraphing to,
643
Honeymoon, The, 286
Hook, Thomas J., 609
Hook, William Spencer, 609
Hoover (formerly Huber), Leonce, 185, 199,
200, 201; — Street, 201; — Vineyard, 198
Hoover, Mary A., 201
Hoover, Vincent A., 200, 201, 467
Hope. A. W., 35. 99. 107, 109
Hope Street, 232, 472
Hopkins, Mark, 324
Hopper, Joseph, xv
Horn, A. J., 91
Horn, Cape, 37. 62, 86, 107, I2r, 123, 167,
203, 221, 284, 352, 397, 411
Hornbeck, Robert, 176
Hornung, Adelbert, xv
Horses, 243, 318, 332, 354; — f bet on races,
160; — , breaking in, 243; — > breeding of,
95, 215, 423, 592; — , effect of drought on,
215, 329; horse-thieving, 326; runaway — ,
243
Horse cars, 460 ff., 562, 609
Horsemanship, 242, 243
Horse-racing, 109. 160, 182, 375
Horticultural Hall, 512
Hospitality, 113. i35; — . Spanish-American,
71, 150, 252, 604; — of the City, 341, 398
Hospitals, 210, 250
Hotels and hotel life, 227, 245, 369, 380, 396,
397, 408, 481; — , advertising, 469; lack of,
during Boom, 581; under surveillance, 299;
Hotel Splendid, 581. {See, also, under
Alexandria, Angelus, Bella Union, Bellevue
Terrace, Belmont, Cosmopolitan, HoUen-
beck, Lafayette, Lanfranco, Lankershim,
Nadeau, National, New Arlington, Pico,
St. Charles, St. Elmo, United States. What
Cheer House, etc.)
Hotz, Walter, xvi
Hough, A. M., 515
Houghton, Sherman Otis, 596; — , Silent &
Campbell, 596
House, building, 82; — , furnishing, 82; — ,
moving of, 477; — , three-story, 372
Howard, Charles, 384
Howard, Fred H., 439; — & Smith, 439
Howard, Frederick Preston and Mrs., 201,
461
Howard, James G., 347. 350, 554, S55
Howard, 0. O., 431
Howard, Volney E., 54, 55. 346, 356, 384*
529, 593; Mrs. — , 55; — , Butterworth &
Newmark, 312
Howard, William D. M., 227; — & Melius,
227
Howard-Nichols duel, 384
Howe. F. A., xvi
Howell. R. H., 600, 606; — 8c Craig, 600
Howland, F. H-, 535. 546
Hoyt, Albert H., 106
Hoyt, Gertrude Lawrence, 92, 106, lo7» 258
Hoyt, Mary, 107, 257. 321
Hubbell, S. C, 461. 521
Huber, Caroline, 201
Huber, Edward, 201
Huber, Emeline, 201
Huber, Joseph, 200. 201; Mrs. — 201
Huber, Joseph, 201, 261
Huber, William, 201
Hudson River, 625
Hughes, Captain, 237, 276
Hughes, saloon-keeper, 103
Hughes, W. E., 589
Hughes, steam-bath proprietor, 371
Hull, England, 7, 8, 10
Human life, disregard for, 31
Humber Docks, 8
Humbert, Augustus, 130
Humphreys, Frank, 601
Humphreys, J. F., 589
Hunsaker, W. J., 469
Hunsicker, John G., 559
Hunt, Sumner P., 606
Hunt, W. S., 619
Hunter, Edward, 35
Hunter, Jesse, 115. 340
Hunter, Morton C., 397
Hunting grounds, 73
Huntington, Collis P., 324. 440. 468, 502
Huntington, Henry E,, 232,515,620. 631. 632;
— Building, 515, 620; — Purchase, 69;
— Hotel, 54
Hutton, Aurelius W., 597
Hydrophobia, 325
Hyde, E. W., 440
Hydrants, 446
I
Ice, 233, 247, 370; first , 191; formed
here, 381; — house, 247, 370; — machine,
first, 427; — wagon, 370
Ice cream, first, 191, 391; venders, 391, 629
Ice Water Convention, 13
Jcerya purchasi, 544
Icicles, 525
Idaho, 351
Ide, Clarence Edward, xv
Ihmsen, Maximilian F., 627
lUich, Jerry, 513
Illinois, 576
Illinois, steamer, 14
Imprenta, 94
Independence, steamer, 48
Indian Wells. 387. 414
Indiana, 576 — , Colony, 412, 447, 481
Indians, 25, 35, 42, 47, 62, 82, 89, 95, 105,
106, 123, 124, 126, 131, 134, 165, 169, 182,
202, 203, 217, 218, 227. 228, 248, 253, 259,
261, 262, 266, 275, 277, 281, 285, 286, 317,
322, 330, 352, 415, 429. 430, 431, 448. 519.
528, 530, 542. 553, 604; Polonia, 253;
— agents, 143, 168; — dances of, 278;
fire signals, 415; Apache — , 431, 541;
Index
667
Indians — Continued
Chippewa — , 448; Colorado River — , 317;
pueblo — , S42; — as illegal voters, 43;
— reservation and adobes, 248, 620
Ingersoll, Luther, xv
Institute, Sisters', 190
Institute, Teachers', 389
Insurance, 120, 223, 389, 516
Interstate Commerce Commission, 637
Inyo County, 386, 521
Iowa, 576
Iron buildings, corrugated, 120, 133, 190
Ironsides, 352
Irrigation, iig, 213, 215, 218, 329
Irving party, 46, 175, 190
Irving, Washington, 65
Isthmuses, the, and Isthmian travel, 15, 38,
48, 201, 232, 31S
Italian Benevolent Society, 553
Ivanhoe, 579
Jackson, Andrew, 254
Jackson, Helen Hunt (H. H.), 41, 102, 444,
519. 530
Jackson, John E., 404
Jackson, R. W., 261
Jackson, Simon, 150
Jackson Street, 293
Jackstones, 103
Jacobi, A., 28
Jacobs, Lewis, 151
Jacoby, Abraham, 287, 606; — Bros., 287
Jacoby, Charles, 287
Jacoby, Conrad, 230, 465, 540
Jacoby, Herman, 287
Jacoby, Lesser, 287
Jacoby, Morris, 287
Jacoby, Nathan, 286
Jacoby, Philo, 465
Jail, old, IIS. 286, sii, 530
Jail Street, 36
Jamaica, 14
James, Collector, 341
James, George Wharton, S88
Janeiro, Rio de, 123
Japanese at the Centennial, 497
Jazynsky, Louis, 212, 219
Jefferson, D., 396
Jelinek, Mrs. A., 623
Jenkins, Charles Meyers, 94, 295
Jenkins, William W., 76
Jenny Lind Bakery, 77, 191
Jerkies, 37S
Jerky, 25
Jess, Stoddard, 473t 638, 642, 647
Jevne, Hans, 76, 550, 606, 638
Jewish Cemetery, 104, 122, 396
Jewish Orphans Home of Southern California,
643
Jewish reformed ritual, 314
Jewish services, 122, 314, 608, 618
Jewish synagogue, first, 314
Jewish temple, 608
Jewish women, 104, 409, 432, 535, 599, 644
Jews, threat to drive out the, 342
Jinks, Captain, 278
Johnson, Adelaida, 61
Johnson, Albert, 455
Johnson, Andrew, 361
Johnson, Bridget, 28
Johnson, Captain, 376
Johnson, Charles R., 62, 249, 255; Mrs. — ,
255; — & AUanson, 62, 151
Johnson, Dick, 82
Johnson, E. P., 378, 606
Johnson, Hiram, 639
Johnson, J. A., 91
Johnson, James (Santiago), SZ. 61, 279; Mrs.
— 38
Johnson, Joseph H., 622
Johnson, Margarita, 53
Johnson, Micajah D., 488
Johnson, Milbank, 628
Johnson, O. T., 581
Johnston, A. J., 428
Johnston, Albert Sidney, 107, 294. 3i6, 337;
Mrs. — , 316, 321, 337
Johnston, Albert Sidney, Jr., 320
Johnston, Hancock M., 322; Mrs. — , 50
Johnston, William Preston, 295
Jolly, Hi, 222
Joly, Joseph, 405
Jones, C. W., xv
Jones, Chloe P., 533
Jones, Clara M., 355
Jones, Eleanor Brodie, xv
Jones, E. W., 589, 626
Jones, G. M., 603
Jones, John, 65, 342, 353. 356, 366, 383.
427, 432; Mrs. — , 65, 409
Jones, John H., 8s, 86; Mrs. (Carrie M.) — ,
8s. 542, 648
Jones, John P., 181, 479, 485 ff., 521, 586
Jones, John T., 105
Jones, M. G., 65, S4S
Jones, Wilson W., 35, 107
Jones Block, 536
Jones's Corral, 455
Jordan Bros., S49
Jota, 135
Joughin. Andrew, 357
Joyce, W. H., 637
Juan, Cojo, 238
Judd, Henderson, xvi
Judges of the Plains, 182, 183, 242
Judson & Belshaw, 385 ff.
Juez de Paz, 99
Julius CcBsar, 588
Jumper, 446
Juneau, 602
Junge, Adolph (Adolf), 290, 367
Junta Patriotica, 338
Jurupa rancho, 175 ff., 255, 391
K
Kahn, John, 72, 606
Kahn, Zadoc and Mme., 450
Kaiser, Charles, 273
Kalamazoo, Mich., 106
Kalisher, W., 61; Mrs. — , 409; — 8c Warten-
berg, 61, 409
Kalorama, steamer, 465
Kane, Mr., 337
Katz, B., 405; Mrs. — , 409
Kays, James C, 469, 545. 618
Kearney, Phil., 614
Kearny, S. W., 206, 255
Keller, M., 35, 128, 200, 292, 293, 346, 436,
446. 483
Keller's Buildmg, 94
Kellogg, D. P., xvi
Kellogg & Co., 130
Kelly, Dan, 413
Kenealy, John, 529
Kercheval, Albert Fenner, 428, 574; — Tract,
574
Kerckhoff, George, 515
Kerckhoff, William G., 515, 545; — Building,
515
Kerckhoff, Mr., 581
Kerlin, Fred E., 320
Kern, Paul, 481
Kern County, 188, 272, 426, 437
Kern River, 148, 149, 317
Kerosene, 346
Kewen, A. L., 54
668
Ind
ex
Kewen, Edward J. C, 45. S4» 55, I70, 185,
249, 285. 318, 351. 3S6, 441; Mrs. — , i8s
Keyes, C. G., xvi
Keysor, E. F., 466, 470; — & Morgan, 470
Kimball, C. H., 355
Kimball, Cyrus, 34S
Kimball, Nathan, 447
Kimberly, Martin M., 318
Kimble, L., 619
Kindergarten, 356, 566
King. Andrew J., 89, 91, 246, 250, 315, 344,
347. 350, 366, 380, 397, 426. 433. 443, 446;
Mrs. — , 89. 315; — & Co., 350; — &
Waite, 380
King, Frank, jg47
King, F. W., 606
King, Henry, 358
King, Houston, 347
King, John, 245, 316, 358, 380
King, Samuel, 91, 92
King, Thomas, 210
King, William R., 121
King-Carlisle duel, 347 ff.
Kingston, Tulare Co., 453
Kinneloa, 519
Kinney, Abbot, 519, 530, 566, 595, 603, 606,
627
Kip, William Ingraham, 340
Kirkland Valley, 415
Klokke, E. F. C. 606
Kndckehrod, s
Kneipe, Temple Block 230
Knight, William H., 613
Knights Commander, Order of, 542
Knowles, Charles, 455
Knowlton, Charles, 396, 455, 469
Knowlton, Willis T., xvi
Koebele, Albert, 544
KoepSi, J. O., 544, 606, 619, 626, 634, 635,
637
Kohler, F. D., 130
Kohler, G. Charles, 212, 213; — & Frohling,
213
KoU, Frederick W., 251, 275
Koster, John, 368
Kragevsky, Miguel, 206
Kremer, Campbell & Co., 280
Kremer, Maurice, 39, 71, 72, 189, 191, 201,
260. 280, 287, 334, 347, 355, 36s. 400, 415,
419, 636; Mrs. — {nee Newmark), 191, 599,
636
Kress, George H., 641
Kuhn, Henry, 258
Kuhrts, Jacob, 228, 229, 409, 446, 552, 585,
606; Mrs. — , 229, 527
Ku-Klux Klan, 516
Kurtz, Carl, 367, 606
Kurtz, Joseph, 230, 367. 409. 434. S26, 540,
548, 587. 593. 649
Kuster, Edward G., 637
LabattBros., 69
Laborie, Antoine, 64
Labrador, 398
Lacey, Sidney, 377, 446
Lachenais, A. M. G., 40, 303, 419
Lacy, Richard H., 377; — Manufacturing
^ Co., 377
Lacy, William, 377. 647
Lacy, William, Jr., 377
Ladies, escorting of, 184; — at political
gatherings, 282
Ladybird, 544
Ladybug, 544
Lafayette Hotel, 176, 251, 275, 321, 384, 389,
396, 397. 469
La Fetra, Milton H., 483
Lafoon, Charles, 366
Lager beer, first, 40
Lamanda. Park, 578
Lambourn, Fred, 87, 471
Lamps, coal oil, 34
Lamson, George F., 155
Lamson, Gertrude, 155
Lamson, S. F., 338
Lancaro, B. H., 179
Land bet on races, 161
Land Commission, 238
Land Commissioners, Board of, 146, $09
Landmarks Club, 542
Land Office, Register of, 143, 214
Land values, unscientific consideration of
(see under Property)
Land of Sunshine, 542, 646
Land patents, 509
Land syndicates in the Boom, 572
Lander, James H., 45, 53, Zi9i 348; Mrs. — ,
38, 53
Lane, the, 394
Lane, Joseph, 282
Lane's Crossing, 281
Lanes. 25, 112, 126, 198, 394. 48S. 614
Lanfranco Block, new, 37 1; — . old, 71, 231.
367. 369, 465. 550; the — , hotel. 369
Lanfranco, Juan T., 70, 71. 216, 369, 433; Mrs.
— , 71, 181, 508
Lanfranco, Mateo, 70, 216
Lanfranco, Petra Pilar, 135
Lang, Gustav J., 442
Langenberger, A. and Mrs. 212
Langs, confusion as to, 442 ; Lang, John, No. i ,
274, 442; — , No. 2, 442, 447; — 's Station,
387, 447, 496, 498
Lankershim, Isaac, 381, 421, 493; — Ranch,
578
Lankershim, J. B., 381, 584, 606; Mrs. — , 65;
— Block, 192
Lanterns, candle, camphine, coal oil, 34
Largo, Juan, 169
Larkin, Thomas O., American Consul, 108
La Rue, John, 27 ff., 61
Larrabee, Charles H., 376, 441
Larronde, Pedro, 311
Lasker, Edward, 539
Lasky, L., 72
Lasso, 243
Latham, Milton S., 109, 282, 285; Camp — ,
299; Fort — , 321
Latterday Saints, 345
Laubheim, Samuel, 290
Laughlin, Homer, 201; — Building, 201, 608,
62s, 638; — Annex, 593
Laughlin, Richard, 187
Laundries, first, 78, 298, 310
Laura Bevan, wreck of. 66, 152
Laurel Tract, 442
Laurence, H. F., 385
Lauth, Philip, 230
Laventhal, Elias, 146, 189
Lawler, Oscar. 624; Mrs. — , 624
Lawlor, W. B., 373, 443; — Institute, 373
Lawyers, 45 ff.; — ', fees, 47; — ' Block, 596
Lazard, Abe, 72
Lazard, E. M., 72
Lazard Freres, 439, 522, 540
Lazard, Max, 89
Lazard, Solomon, 65, 71, 89. 120, 123, 133,
163, 224, 287, 290, 347, 365, 366. 383. 449,
489. 503, S04. 508, 618, 637; Mrs. — , 224,
253, 347. 508, 637; — & Co., 132. 171, 229,
355. 362, 400, 452; — 8c Kremer, 71, 189;
— & Wolfskin, 72
Lazarowich, Joe, 550
Lazarus, P., 230, 365; Mrs. — , 365; —
Stationery Co., 365
Lea, Homer, 644
Lead mines, 385, 388
Lechler, George and Mrs., 235
Index
669
Leek, Henry v. d. and Mrs., 64
Leek, Lorenzo, 64, 78. 259, 304, 409; Mrs. — ,
304, 317; — 's Hall, 314
Lecouvreur, Frank, 149, 152, 230, 319, 344,
403, 411; Mrs. — , 411
Lectures, public, igo, 623
Ledger, reflections caused by an old, 219
Ledyard, Captain, 338
Lee, Bradner W., 475. 5i6, 517
Lee, Bradner W., Jr., xvi
Lee, Charles, 453
Lee, John D., 217
Lee, John P., 325
Lee, Robert Edward, 328, 353
Leeeh, William P., 627
Leeds, England, 276
Leggings, leather, 159
Legislature appealed to, 207
Lehman, Andrew, 86
Lehman, George, 192, 193, 272, 273, 417,
463, 522 ff.
Letter, Levi Z., 602
Leiter, Mary Victoria, 602
Lelande, H. J,, xvi
Lelong, Joseph, 77
Lemberg, Fred, 351
Lemons, and lemon-culture, 211, 212, 412
Lemon, Frank, 476
Lemon, William, 476
Le M^snager, George, 541
Le Moyne, Francis Julius, 567
Leon, Ralph, 481
Leonis, Miguel, 310
Le Sage, Gideon, 470
Lessen, 3
Letter boxes, 94, 410
Letter, Jacob, 72
Letts, Arthur, 613
Levering, Noah, 540
Levy, E. J., 601
Levy, Isaac, xvi
Levy, Michael, 372; — & Co., 372; — Coblentz,
372
Lewin, Louis and Mrs. 365 ; — Co. , Louis, 365
Lewis, David, 91; and Mrs., 93
Lewis, John A., 93; — , McElroy & Rand, gi
Lewis Perry, 237, 276, 290
Lewis, S. B., 589- 607
Lewis, Thomas A., 589
Libby Prison, 295
Libraries, loan, 428
Library Assoeiation, Los Angeles, 443
Library, Los Angeles, 257. 443- 5^3, 542, 593.
638; — , first, 256; transferred to the City,
S13
Lichtenberger, H., 607
Lichtenberger, Louis, 153, 154, 428
Lick, James, 71. 216, 568
Liebre, Rancho de la, 195
Lied von der Glocke, das. 119
Life insurance, 319
Life and Sport in the Open, 558
Lighthouses, first here, 473; — , at Catallna,
319
Lighting of streets and buildmgs, 34, 349, 408 ,
410,
Lightner, Isaac, 344
Lily Langtry Tract, 575
Lincoln, Abraham, 142, 236, 238, 249, 264,
289. 297, 307, 315. 330, 334. 337, 338, 339.
399. 595; vote in Los Angeles, 282
Lindley, Albert, 473
Lindley, Henry, 473
Lindley, Ida B., 473
Lindley, Milton, 473
Lindley Walter, 322, 473. 589- 641
Lindskow, 404
Lindville, 405
Lips, Charles C, 356, 409, 449, 539
Lips, Walter, 356; — , Craique Sc Co., 356
Lissner, Meyer, 639
Little, W. H., 206, 207
Littlefield, J. C, 444
Little Lake, 387
Liverpool, England, 8, 9, 10, 381, 447, 493
Livery stables. 377. 383. 389. 429
Livingstone, David, 211
Llewellyn, David, 559
Llewellyn, Llewellyn J., 559; — Iron Works,
559
Llewellyn, Reese, 559
Llewellyn, William, 559
Lloyd, Reuben, 474
Locomotives (see under Railroads)
Lock-boxes, postal, 372
Locust trees, black. 162, 539
Loeb, Edwin J., xv., 355
Loeb, Joseph P., xv., 355. 637
Loeb, Leon, 355, 383, 540, 606; Mrs. — , 355-
636
Loebau, i, 5, 7, 12, 360, 361, 564, 621
Loew, Jacob, 87, 367, 425; Mrs. — , 367
Loewenstein, Emanuel, 75
Loewenstein, Hillard, 75, 233; Mrs. — , 75
Loewenthal, Max, 75
Logan, honey dealer, 127
Lomas de Santiago rancho, 170
London. 360, 407
London & San Francisco Bank, 412
Lone Pine, 375
Long Beach, 166. 167, 374, 519, 580, 601, 620;
— disaster, 647
Longevity, 493, 528. 649
Longfellow, Henry W., 624
Lopez, bandit, 209
Lord, Isaac W., 377. 449. 489, 505. 563, 576
Lordsburg, 576, 578
Loricke, E. M., 462
Loring, Frederick, 430, 431
Los Angeles, 6, xv., 22ff, 36, 52,205, 231, 240,
25s. 313, 338, 348, 349. 36s. 379. 388. 4OO,
402, 417, 440 ff.. 445, 504, 510 528, 539. 541^.
557.. 598. 614, 618, 626, 640, 642, 643; ex-
tension of hospitality, 398, 639
Los Angeles advertised at the Centennial,
483. 498
Los Angeles and consolidation with harbor
towns, 638
Los Angeles and Environs, 620
Los Angeles and the Civil War, 294, 299ff,
30s. 308, 311. 316, 318, 321, 323. 326, 328,
330, 333, 334. 337 ff. 350, 353. 371
Los Angeles and the Southern Pacific Railroad
problem, 440 fE, 489. 502 ff
Los Angeles as market for the interior, 385;
as market for whalers, 308
Los Angeles charity, criticism of, 431
Los Angeles Coffee Saloon, 279
Los Angeles College, 566
Los Angeles College Clinical Association, 367
Los Angeles County, 25, 35, 92, 188, 426; or-
ganization of, 35; ownership of, 166; pro-
posed divisions of, 406, 593; reward unpaid,
425
Los Angeles County, An Historical Sketch of,
365, 501
Los Angeles County, History of, (Guinn) 620
Los Angeles County Bank, 466
Los Angeles County Homeopathic Medical
Society, 548
Los Angeles County Railroad, 592
Los Angeles Court House, adobe, 40, 256;
Temple — , 67, 294 339, 441, 449; present
— , 301, 452
Los Angeles Crematory Society, 567
Los Angeles, early views of, 364
Los Angeles Furniture Co., 378
Los Angeles Gas Co., 489
Los Angeles Guards, 499
Los Angeles Harbor, 545, 637, 642; — Board,
670
Index
Los Angeles Harbor — Continued
642; — dredging, 426; proposed harbors,
581. (See Harbor Conlesi.)
Los Angeles, History of, (Willai-d) 646
Los Angeles High School, 301, 410, 452, 532;
first — student to enter State Univeisity, 536
Los Angeles Infirmary, 210
Los Angeles Medical Society, 370
Los Angeles Pacific Railroad Co., 613
Los Angeles, panoramic views of, 364
Los Angeles Produce Exchange, 537
Los Angeles Rifleros, 499
Los Angeles River, 116, 258, 289, 398, 412;
— , right to water of, 541
Los Angeles Saddlery Co., 82
Los Angeles Savings Bank, 358
Los Angeles Soap Co., 470
Los Angeles Social Club, 383, 500
Los Angeles Soda Water Works, 363
Los Angeles: steamer, 346; little steamer, 395,
398, 404; locomotive, 402, 404
Los Angeles Street, 30, 288, 383, 400, 408,
433, 472, 510
Los Angeles Terminal Railroad, 597
Los Angeles Theater, 590
Los Angeles Water Co., 366, 377. 384, 389.
418, 446, 510, 534. 617
Los Angeles & Independence Railroad, 485,
487, 488, 521. 569; — depot, 485
Los Angeles & San Gabriel Valley Railroad,
549. 58s
Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad, 295, 318,
321, 334, 353, 354.363, 370, 375. 380, 383,
384, 393. 396, 404. 408, 430, 440, 441. 452,
506, 521; — , depot, (later owned by the
Southern Pacific) 107,383. 393. 400, 401,
403; first train into Los Angeles, 401; first
regular trains, 403; first midnight train,
402; first popular excursion, 402
Los Angeles & Truxton Railroad, 460
Lothian, I. A., 619. 635
Lott, A. E., 386
Lotteries, land sales by, 573
Louis French, 369
Louis Vielle (Louis Gordo), 369
Louisiana Coffee Saloon, 279
Love, Harry, 58
Lover's Lane, 198
Low, Frederick, F., 323, 338
Lowe, Ella Housefield, xvi
Lowe, T. S. C, 561, 604; — Railroad, Mount,
604; — Astronomical Observatory, 604
Lowe, W. W., 521
Lowenthal, Henry, 627
Lucky, W. T., 389, 452
Lugo, Ant6nio Maria, and the Lugo family,
35, 47. 74. 102, 135, 159. 167, 168, 174.
183. 200, 214, 2S3, 263, 376
Lugo, Felipe, 220, 242
Lugo, Jos6 del Carmen, 87, 174
Lugo, Jos6 Maria, 87, 99, 174
Lugo, Jos^ Ygnacio, 171, 263
Lugo, Magdalena, 171
Lugo, Vicente, 87, 99, ro2, 174
Lugo, Ygnacio, 74, 158, 174
Lulei, 4
Lumber-famine, 380
Lumber, from San Bernardino, 88; — yards,
81, 88, 274, 380
Lummis, Charles F., 232, 364, 54^ ff-.
593. 607, 626, 638, 646, 647, 648; person-
ality, 542; on the memoirs of Harris New-
mark, xii
Lummis, M. Dorothea, 548
L' Union Nouvelle, 516
Lusitania, sinking of the, 644
Last, C. F. A., 607
Lynch, Joseph D., 516, 556, 581
Lynchings: Brown, 140; Alvitre. 147; Flores,
309; Daniel, 223; Cota, 304; Daimwood,
324; wholesale, 325; Cerradel, Z26\ Wilkins.
327; Lachenais, 420; Chinese, 30, 433; — >
defense of, 141; — , El Monte boys at, 91,
324. 471
Lyons, Cy, 194, 195; — 's Station, 194
Lyons, Sanford, 194
M
Macaulay, Thomas Babington, xi
MacGowan, Granville, 201
McArthur, Anna, 107
McBride, Tames, 404
McConnell, J. R., 597
McCoy, Frank, 579
McCracken, T. W., 416
McCrea, John, 404
McCrellish, Frederick J., 270, 271, 283 ff.; —
& Co., 270
McCullough, J. G., 341
McDonald, Edward N., 218; — Block, 206,
218, 545
McDonald, N. A., 404
McDougal, F. A. and Mrs.. 168, 383
McDowell, Hugh, 617
McDowell, Irwin, 341
McElroy, John, 93
McFadden, James, 506
McFadden, P., 366
McFadden, William, 419
McFarland, Albert, 556
McFarland, James P., 107, 109; — & Downey,
109
McGarry Tract, 574
McGarvin, D. C., 607
McGinnis, Ed., 137
McGroarty, John S., 102
McGuire, Thomas, 422
McKee, H. S., 625
McKee, William, 107, 163, 321, 539
McKinley, William, 616, 618
McKinney, Preston, 559
McLain, George P., 446; — & Lehman, 559
McLellan, Bryce, 464, 483
McLellan, George F., 483
McLellan, H., 483
McLoughlin, Ben, 153
McMullen's Station, 415
Machado, Augustin, 63, 179
Machado, Susana, 63
Machado, Ygndcio, 179
Machete, 231
Mackey, A. F., 587
Maclay, Charles, 459
Macniel, Hugh Livingston, 561
Macy, Lucinda, 106
Macy, Obed, 26, 91, 92, 150, 297; — Street,
92, 198, 412
Macy, Oscar, 91, 92, 210, 216, 297
Madigan, Eliza, 321, 355
Madigan, Mike, 383; — lot, 396
Madox, A., 91
Madras, 547
Magic performances, 318
Magruder, John B., 224
Mahler, first Jewish child to die here, 104
Mahlstedt, Mrs. D., 527
Maier, Simon, 69, 607
Mail, dead-letter, 267; — , disturbed, 291; — ,
sent by express company, 374, 375; Over-
land — , 256, 259; uncertain arrival of — ,
235. 374; — routes, 361; improvement in
despatch of — , 264 ; small amount of — busi-
ness, 431; introduction of money-orders by
— , 431; — by stages, 234. 373, 374
Main Street, 31, 32, 73, 112, 125, 158, 335,
472, 518, 519, 535. 543, 561, 573. S84
Main Street Savings Bank, 561
Main Street & Agricultural Park Railway Co.,
389, 462
Index
671
Maine, the, 616
Mai3on Doree, 513
Major, L. A.. 516
Mallard, Augusta, 361
Mallard, Joseph Stillman, 33. 36, 89, 205,
361, 364, 411; Mrs. — , 46; — Street, 36
Mallard, Mary, 411
Mallard, Walter, 89
Mallory, Stephen Russell, 467
Maloney, Richard, 239
Manilla, 365
Manning, Celeste, xvi
Manning, Joe, 464
Mansfield, John, S4i..58y, 597
Manufacturers' Association, 611
Marble-cutter, first, 406
Marchessault, Damien, 132, 241, 258, 350, 366
Marihuana, 14
Mariposa, 148
Mariposa, La, 550
Mariposa Big Trees, 272
Market House, Temple, 240, 241, 258, 263,
294
Markham, Henry Harrison, 378, 517, 598
Marks, Baruch. 75; — & Co., B., 75
Marriages, native, 136
Marsh, William, 149
Marshall & Henderson, 537
Marshals, U. S., 31S. 543
Martial law, 207
Martin & Co., E., 356
Martin, Jack, 268
Martin, Mrs. Peter, 355
Martin, W. H., 237
Martinez, Nicolas, 391
Mascarcl, Jos6, 62, 63, 65, 339, 341. 423. 596;
— & Barri, 189
Masonic Temple, San Francisco, laying of
corner-stone, 270
Masons, F. & A., 156, 208, 317, 371,
Lodge No. 42, 26, 105, 118, 203
Massachusetts Cavalry, Second, 295
Matches, Swedish, 120
Mathes, S. J., 482
Mathews, John R., 537
Mauricio, Maurice, 191
Maximilian, Emperor, 224, 359
Maxwell, George W., 567
Maxwell, Walter S., 71, 537. 568; Mrs. -
Mayerhofer, Josephine, 191
Mayors of Los Angeles, 32, 33, 36, 50,
105, 115. 147. 218, 288, 302, 372, 379. - .
398, 399. 445. 467. 556. 561. 566, 613. 616,
638, 639, 642; Mayor as Justice of Peace,
524
Mazatlan, 23, 27
Meat-packers, 482
Meat, price affected by cold, 381
Mechanics' Institute, 190
Medical aid. visiting Europe for, 164
Medical colleges, Los Angeles, 280, 593; first
medical school, 548
Medical Profession of Southern California.
History of the, 641
Medicines, early, no
Meiggs, Harry, 21
Melius, Francis, 35- 36, 39. 61, 87, 105, 119,
132, 137, 227, 256, 265, 288; Mrs. — , 61,
Melius, Henry, 39. 85. 132, 133. 226, 227, 256,
268, 284, 288; Mrs. — , 85, 133. 227; — &
Howard, 61
Melius, James J., 61, 537. 607
Melius' Row, Go, 61, 71. 75. 248, 309, 313. 35i.
472
Mendell, George H., 618
Mercantile Place, 539
Merced Ranch, 167, 520
Merchandise, bet on races, 161 ; — , early
prices of, 73
624;
. 71
100,
, 38"
Merchandising, extravagant stories about, 38
Merchants' Association, 60s, 611
Merchants and Manufacturers' Association,
611, 634
Merchants, small stocks of, 311; — , tricks of,
131. 177
Merrymaking, 13S
Mesa, 322
Mescal, 134, 205, 424
Mesmer, Joseph, 244, 630
Mesmer, Louis, 191. 244, 303. 380, 523, 581,
596 J
Messer, Kiln, 123, 200, 274. 275. 410; Mrs. — ,
442
Methodists, 103. 340. 510
Metlakahtla, 602
Metropolitan Building, 639
Mexican War, 108, 169; — Veterans, 138, 499
Mexicans, 89. 322, 330, 333; cuisine of, 102,
133. 630; dress of, 99. I57; goods of, 62,
66, 279; as laborers, 25; as outlaws, 206,
333; as illiterate voters, 42
Mexico, 397; peace proclamation of, 400
Mexico, City of,. 57, 546
Meyberg, Max, "605, 606, 639; — Bros., 611
Meyberg, Mrs. Morris, xvi
Meyer, Constant, 452
Meyer, Edgar J., 644
Meyer, Eugene, 68, 198, 237, 290, 355, 366,
377. 381, 383. 400, 450, 452, 464. 466, 480,
499. 523. 540, 644; Mrs. — , I96, 290, 377.
564, 637. 644; — & Co., Eugene, 452, 643
Meyer, Isaac A., 309; — & Broslauer, 309
Meyer, J. A., 297
Meyer, Louisa, xvi
Meyer, Mendel, 233, 459
Meyer, Samuel, 26, 75. 150, 194. 233, 309.
383; Mrs. — , 75
Meyer & Breslauer, 309
Meying, William, xvi
Michaels, M., 72
Micheltorena, Manuel 92, 178
Midwinter Fair, San Francisco, 605
Mikado, 547
Miles, Charles E., 446, 454. 457
Miles, Nelson A., 581, 586, 587
Military academy, first, 622; — bands, 296,
394. 398, 579; — posts, Los Angeles trade
with, 265
Milk, early peddling of, 172
Miller, marble cutter, 406
Miller, John M., 543
Miller & Lux. 458
Milliner's advertisement, 492
Millington, S. J., 427
Mills and millers, 54, 87, 213, 218, 367,381,
470, 581
Millspaugh, Jesse F., 532
Milner, John, 404, 452, 568; Mrs. — , 527
Miner, Randolph Huntington, 473, 612; Mrs.
— . 473
Mining and miners, 17, 94, 108, 123, 126,
148, 149, 228, 268, 271, 318, 321, 385 ff.,
474. 475. 476, 477
Minstrels, 186
Mint Valley, 415
Minting, early, 130
Miron, Juan Maria, 202
Miron, Juana, 202
Mirror, Los Angeles, 444, 474, 482, 530, S33.
617
Mission Dolores, 276
Mission Fathers, 88, 92, loi, 115, 199
Mission Inn, Frank Miller's, 625
Mission Play, 102
Mission Road, 42, 533
Missions, (see under Spanish Missions)
Mitchell, Charles E., xvi
Mitchell, Henry Milner, 417, 455, 457, 488,
499; — , shot by mistake, 517; Mrs. — ,517
672
Index
Mitchell, John S., 492
Mix, W. A., 40s
Mob, psychology of the, 324
Modjeska, Helena, 494, 495; — Avenue, 495
Moerenhaut, Jacob A., 254, 317, 501
Moffatt & Co., 130
Moffitt, A. B., S2I
Mohave County, Arizona, 93
Mohongo, 465
Moiso, Jim, 550
Mojave, desert, 317; Fort — , 281; — , town
of, 386, 387
Molina, El, 54
Mondonville, 579
Money, exchange with San Francisco, 129;
expressing — as coin to San Francisco, 129;
hoarding — in bags, 129; — orders, first
foreign, 431
Monk, Hank, 429
Monroe, William N., 563
Monrovia, 467, 563, 576, 578, 620
Montana, 304, 351
Monte, El, 71, 88, 90, 91, 92, 107, 150, 196,
207, 234, 251, 261, 3i7f 324, 32s, 3S4» 426,
452, 471
Montebello, 535
Monterey, 22, 47, 254, 255, 279, 520
Monterey, steamer, 465
Monte Vista, 579
Montgomery Saloon, 31, 209, 282
Moody, Dwight L., 590
Moore, C. E., 642
Moore, Maggie, 381
Moore, Walter S., 71, 464, 587; Mrs. — , 71
Moore, William, 319
Moran, John, 363
More, Ira, 532, 604
Moreno, bankrupt, 68
Moreno, Francisco, 159
Morford, W. E., 476
Morgan, Octavius, 469, 568
Morgan, Cosmo, 465; — & Newmark, 465
Mormons, 87, 88, 151, 155, 156, 217, 218, 242,
320, 345
Morning Call, San Francisco, 427
Morris, Herman, 72
Morris, Jacob, 72
Morris, J. L., 72, 383
Morris, Moritz, 72, 356, 383. S40; — Bros.,
104; — Vineyard, 104, 539
Morris, shoemaker, 86
Morrison, Murray, 185, 295, 365, 436; Mrs.
— . i8s, 436
Morsch, Fred, 409
Mortimer, C. White, 597
Morton, F., 65, 66, 152, 248
Morton, Levi P., 617
Mosher, L. E., 583, 607, 616
Mosquito Gulf, 14
Mott, John G., 72'
Mott, Stephen Hathaway, 82, 366, 472, 534
Mott, Thomas D., 64, 72, 73. 81, 82, 160, 181,
309, 311, 323. 324. 335. 366, 383, 440; Mra.
— , 181, 309; — Hall, 590; — Market, 590
Moulton, Elijah T., 171. 289; Mrs. — , 171
Mountain Meadow Massacre, 106, 217
Mountain travel, difficulty of, 120, 121, 285
Mounted Rifles, Los Angeles, 294
Mud Springs, 387
Mueller, Otto, 51S
Muir Glacier, 602
Mulberry-tree, 390
Mule Springs, 414
Mules, 16, 92, 312; on street railways, 462;
mule trains, 187, 312, 385
MulhoUand, William, so, 509. 555
Mullally, Joe, 396; — , Porter & Ayers, 83
Mumus, 125
Municipal and County Adobe, 36, 40, 41, 209,
256, 324. 338, 530
Municipal League, 545, 646
Munk, J. A., 636, 647, 648
Murat, John, 258
" Murchison, Charles F.," S90; — Letters,
590
Murders, 31. 3S. 46, 58, 139. I90, 206, 303,
304. 323, 324. 326, 327. 330, 340, 4181 424.
430, 432, 470, 512, 629
Murdoch, W. T., 610
Murieta, Joaquin, 58
Murphy, Joe, 381
Murphy, Sheriff, 223
Muscupiabe. 90
Museum of History, Science and Art, no, 159,
238, 253, 258, 29i» 457. 479, 622, 631. 640,
64s
Mushet, W. C, 639
Music, early, 157, 183, 193, 268, 398; Spanish
and Mexican, — , 22, 31; — teachers,
373; musicians, 183, 213, 214, 412
Mustard, wild, 126
Mutton, 216
Myles, Henry R., 109, in, 320
N
Nadeau, George A., 304
Nadeau, H., 492
Nadeau, Remi, 304, 385 ff.. 421, Si3. S34» 558;
— Block, 558; — Hotel, 385, 513, 518, 534;
587; — Park, 576, 579; — Station, 388;
rancho, 388
Napa Valley, 199
Naples, 621
Naples, California, 630
Nast, Thomas, 590
Natick House, 63, 77
Nation, The, xii
National Hotel, 396
Natives, naive temperaments of, 162
Naud, Edouard, 202, 288; Mrs. — , 202; — 's
Warehouse, 288
Needles, 440
Negroes, 123, 138, 330, 527; negro troops, 330
Negros, Calle de los, 30, 98, 288, 510
Neuendorffer, R. C, xvi
Neumark, West Prussia, i
Neuner, M. C, 639
Nevada Bank, San Francisco, 595
New Arlington Hotel, 418, 552
New High Street, 472
Newberry, John R., 551
Newell, Jerry, 83
Newfoundland, storm off, il
Newhall, Walter S., 607
Newhall, 41, 95, 170, 504
Newman, Edward, 330
Newmark, Abraham, son of Joseph Newmark,
538
Newmark, Augusta, wife of J. P. Newmark,
163, 191, 240; death of, 611
Newmark Bros., 559
Newmark, Caroline, daughter of Joseph
Newmark, 121, 347
Newmark, Edith, daughter of Harris New-
mark, 470 '
Newmark, Edward J., son of Joseph New-
mark, 121, 376, 624
Newmark, Edward J., son of Harris Newmark,
515
Newmark, Ella, daughter of Harris Newmark,
517, 533
Newmark, Emily, daughter of Harris New-
mark, 367
Newmark, Estelle, daughter of Harris New-
mark, 355
Newmark ( Neumark) , Esther, mother of
Harris Newmark, i, 2, 3. 7; death of, 360
Newmark, Harriet, daughter of Joseph New-
mark, 121, 195, 290
Index
673
Newmark, Harriet, daughter of J. P. New-
mark, 444
Newmark (Neumark), Harris, son of Philipp
Neumark, birth, i; boyhood, 2; accom-
panies father to Sweden, 3, 649; first ex-
perience at sea, 3; in Denmark and Sweden,
4; returns to Loebau, 4; becomes shoeblack-
ing apprentice, 4; visits Finland, s; experi-
ence with Russian bigotry, 5; last winter at
Loebau, 5; invited by brother, J. P. New-
mark, to come to California, 6 ; leaves
Gothenburg for America, 7; forms peculiar
acquaintance, 7 ff.; lands at Hull, 8; arrested
with fellow-passenger at Liverpool, 9; misses
steamer, 9; sails from Liverpool, 10; nar-
rowly escapes shipwreck, 11; arrives at
New York, 12; tries peddling — for a day,
13; sails for California via Nicaragua, 14;
crosses the Isthmus, 15; adventure on a
mule, 16; shares the vicissitudes of the trip
with Lieutenant William Tecumseh Sher-
man, 17; reaches the Pacific, 18; enters the
Golden Gate, 19; meets Mr. and Mrs.
Joseph Newmark and family, 121; absorbed
with early San Francisco life, 19 ff.; con-
tinues sea-trip to Southern California, 22;
disembarks at San Pedro, 22; meets Phineas
Banning, 23 ; comes by stage to Los Angeles,
24; amazed at first sight of Indians, squir-
rels and came seca, 25 ; reunion with brother,
26; clerks for brother, 27: makes rounds of
Los Angeles gambling dens, 30 ff.; faces
gun of drunken neighbor, 58; and confronts
weapon of another joker, 60; early associa-
tions with Mayor Nichols, 32; acts as agent
for Henry Hancock, 37; lives in the family
of Joseph Newmark, 121; first meeting with
George Hansen, 37; friendship with George
Carson, 217; learns Spanish before Eng-
lish, 121; becomes charter member of Los
Angeles Hebrew Benevolent Society, 123;
establishes himself in business, 128; sacri-
fices necessary to attain success, 128; first
business profits, 128; duns a debtor at
some personal risk, 144; becomes partner
in Rich, Newmark & Co., 146; business
trips and adventures, 150 ff.; attends bull-
fight, 161; experiences first earthquake, 165;
participates in early social life, 183; forms
friendship with Cameron E. Thorn, 228;
proposes marriage to Miss Sarah Newmark,
103; third business venture, 189; revisits
San Francisco, 191; rides horseback to Fort
Tejdn, 194 ff.; begins buying hides, 196;
joins the Masonic order, 203; second
experience with earthquake, 204; as Vigi-
lante, 205; again visits San Francisco, 211;
dealings with Louis Robidoux, 175; engages
in sheep business, 220; eyewitness to slay-
ing of Sheriff Getman, 221; marries Miss
Sarah Newmark, 224, 589; engages in the
clothing trade, 237; unfortunate business
venture at Fort Tejon, 248; participates in a
rodeo, 242; forms friendship with Winfield
Scott Hancock, 246; N. on Hancock's pat-
riotism, 300; becomes citizen of the United
States, 249; associations with Juan Bandini,
255; appointed Deputy County Treasurer,
260; delegate to Masonic ceremonies, San
Francisco, 270; first opportunity to use the
telegraph, 271; cordial relations with
Senator Gwin, 296; sees Ijmching of Cota,
304; embarks in the commission business,
310; suffers first loss of a child, 317; is
examined for health and becomes pioneer
policy holder of Germania Insurance Com-
pany, 319; present at wholesale lynching,
324; condones lynch-law, 141; probable
narrow escape from accidental assassina-
tion, 330; observes fearful effect of drought,
43
329; loss in hide speculation, 331; pays
high price for flour and beans, 332; buys
first home, 33S; plays poker in jury-room,
55; represses an anti-Lincoln demonstration
and saves a friend, 337; in response to a
threat, establishes, with Phineas Banning,
the firm of H. Newmark, soon H. New-
mark & Co., 342 ff.; takes Frank Lecouvreur
into his service, 344! dealings with Mor-
mons, 345; forces business competitors to
capitulate, 353; buys out Banning, 353;
spectator at the King-Carlisle duel, 348;
also at the Kewen-Lemberg affray, 35 1;
decides to remove to New York, 359; with
family, crosses the Isthmus of Panamd,
359; opens branch office in the metropo-
lis, 359; buys home in New York, 359; re-
visits Europe, and sees again birthplace
and father, 360; at the Paris Exposition
of 1 867, 360 ; unpleasant predicament
at Covent Garden, 360; bears to Miss
Mary HoUister proposal of marriage from
Phineas Banning, 368 ; returns to Los
Angeles, 376; imports one of the first
grand pianos seen here, 376; introduces
finger-bowls, 377 ; installs bathroom in
adobe, 119; buys city acreage at auction,
379; purchases site for home on Fort Street,
68, 381; helps organize first social club,
383; friendship with Remi Nadeau, 386 ff.;
assists in welcoming William H. Seward,
398; with an amusing result, 400; involun-
tary candidate for Supervisorship, 403;
counsellor to Ladies' Hebrew Benevolent
Society, 409; intimate relations with early
ranchers, 421; helps organize Sixth District
Agricultural Society, 426; on committee
to arrange patriotic celebration, 428;
witnesses Chinese massacre, 434; psycho-
logically affected by the wool craze,
437 ff.; member of committee to invite
Southern Pacific Railroad Company to
build into Los Angeles, 440, 502 ; helps
prepare .County railroad ordinances, 441;
one of the founders of the Public Library,
443; visits Vasquez in captivity, 458;
travels to San Francisco by stage, 465;
N. on the future of Fort Street, 466; house-
warming, 467; first meeting with Lucky
Baldwin, 474; visits Lake Tahoe, 477;
advises Juan Matias Sanchez against risking
his property, 478; buys first lot sold in
Santa Monica, 480; cooperates in editing
Chamber of Commerce report for Centen-
nial, 482; by stage and rail to San Francisco,
496; visits Centennial Exhibition, 497;
crossing Continent to New York by rail,
49Tj inakes use of early typewriter, 497;
again in San Francisco, 498; takes part in
the opening of San Fernando Tunnel, 504;
N. on discourteous treatment of C. F.
Crocker by municipal authorities, 504; re-
lations with Leland Stanford, 322, 506; deal-
ings with John E. Hollenbeck, 492; failure
toappreciate land-values, 513; sells Van Nuys
Building site, 515; removes temporarily
to San Francisco, 520; President of the
Congregation, B'nai B'rith, 608; President,
Temple Block Co., 596; meets Mme. Mod-
jeska, 495; director. Board of Trade, 537;
celebrates silver wedding, 538; entertains
Dr. Edward Lasker, 540; tours Mexico and
visits New Orleans Exposition, 546; retires
from wholesale grocery business, 549;
with Kaspare Cohn forms K. Cohn & Co.,
549; resumes shipping of hides and wool,
549; relations with Alessandro Repetto,
552 ff.; administrator of Repetto's estate,
553; one of the purchasers of the Repetto
rancho, 5^2, 555; a founder of Newmarkand
674
Index
Newmark (Neumark), Harris — Continued
Montebelio, 555; invited to stand as candi-
date for Mayor, 556; brings in Eastern coal
at fabulously low rates, 557: again tours
Europe, 564; N. on State division, 592;
invests in gas-making plant, 561; in Alaska,
602; at the Chicago Fair, 605; dissolves
partnership with Kaspare Cohn, 613;
revives H. Newmark & Co., 613J on Pioneer
society committee, 614; N.'s tribute to his
brother, J. P. Newmark, 611; builds resi-
dence on Grand Avenue, 593; once more
buys a lot at Santa Monica, 596; final visit
to Europe, 621; builds Blanchard Hall, 68;
buys electric automobiles — and soon sells
them, 626; proposes monument to S. M.
White, 469; erects Gamut Club, 625:
participates in a movement to provide land
for Federal Building, 630; retires from busi-
ness, 633; N.'s tribute to Lionel J. Adams,
636; golden wedding anniversary, 636; at
banquet to William H. T^ft, 639; N. on
the death of his wife, 640; recollections of
family physicians, 648; breaks ground for
Jewish Orphans' Home, 643 ; joins in
testimonial to Griffith J. Griffith, 643;
speech at the half-century jubilee of M.
A. Newmark & Co., 344; receives loving
cup, 344; at Santa Monica, looking back-
ward, vii, 649; views on longevity and
health, 649; attitude toward alcohol and
tobacco, 64p; pride in Los Angeles, 651;
object in writing his memoirs, ix; 477
Newmark & Co., H., wholesale grocers,
establishing of the firm, 343; monopolize
trade, 34s; supply Government stores,
354; agents for insurance, 280; affected by
hard times, 358; open branch office in New
York, 359; trade with Arizona, 414; de-
clared "the largest shippers," 436; attitude
toward a proposed opposition steamer, 436;
assistance rendered Remi Nadeau, 386 ff,;
dealers in wool, 437; purchase the Santa"
Anita rancho, 439; the first to operate a
two horse fiat-truck, 439; sale of the Santa
Anita, 474; their patronage solicited by
Leland Stanford, 322, 506; twice burglar-
ized, 486; fight with the Southern Pacific
Railroad Co., 506; purchase of Temple
Block, 510; early to employ traveling sales-
men, 521; loss in barley speculation, ' 534;
among the first to use the telephone, 531;
give fountain to the City, 534; removal
from Arcadia Block to Amestoy Building,
Los Angeles Street, 537; dissolution of the
firm, 549; revival, a decade later, 613; ill,
230, 252, 301, 375, 379, 382, 422, 425. 444,
451. 475. 478, 500, S02, 514, 521, 526, 535
Newmark, Henry M., son of Myer J. New-
mark, 46s
Newmark, Hulda, niece of Harris Newmark,
443
Newmark (Neumark), Johanna, sister of
Harris Newmark, 7
Newmark (Neumark), Joseph, uncle of Harris
Newmark, and first to adopt the English
form, of the name, 122; personality, 122;
reaches New York, 122 ; organizes there
Elm Street and Wooster Street synagogues,
122; joins the Masons, at Somerset, Connec-
ticut, 122; marries Miss Rosa Levy, 122;
removes to St. Louis, 122; then to Du-
buque, 122; arrives in Los Angeles, 121 ff.;
brings first Chinese servant seen here, 123,
297 ; establishes Los Angeles Hebrew
Benevolent Society, 122; officiates as rabbi,
122; holds first Jewish service in Los Angeles,
122, 314; leads movement for a Los An-
geles Jewish cemetery, 122; performs cere-
mony at marriage of sons and daughters.
191, 224, 290, 347, 464; member of New-
mark, Kremer & Co., 189; death of, 520; 37.
205, 228, 409, 464, 637
Newmark (Neumark, Joseph Philipp), J. P.,
brother of Harris Newmark, 2; and first of
family to come to California, 6; assists
father in Sweden, 3; goes to England, 3;
embarks for America, is drawn to San
Francisco by the gold fever, and settles in
Los Angeles, 6; buys out Howard, 27; part-
ner of Jacob Rich, 19, 32: as merchant,
27, 37, 57, 73, 427; wholesaler, 32; imports
first camphine to Los Angeles, 34; attends
three-day barbecue, 157; sends for Harris,
6j furnishing him with funds, 13; and gives
him. employment, 27; interrupts an enter-
tainment, 60; removes to San Francisco,
60; sells out and establishes credit for his
brother, 128; acts also as his business ad-
viser, 146, 359; helps organize Rich, New-
mark & Co., 146; becomes a Mason, 203;
revisits Europe, 163 ; bearer of U. S.
Government despatches, 163- marries, in
Germany, Fraulein Augusta Leseritz, 163;
returns from Europe, 191; member of New-
mark, Kremer & Co., 189; removes again to
San Francisco, 240; activity there as com-
mission merchant, 240, 34^1, 438 ; forms
partnership with Isaac Lightner under
title of J. P. Newmark & Co., 344; advises
Harris to remove to New York, 359; visits
Lake Tahoe and the mines of Nevada, 477;
member of the delegation from San Fran-
cisco to attend the opening of the San Fer-
nando tunnel, 503; visits Carlsbad, 520;
returns to San Francisco, 520; journeys
again to Europe, 589; and returns to Los
Angeles, 589; death of, 611; 26, 271, 444,
559. 564. 598; — & Ivremer, 237; — , Kre-
mer & Co., 36, 104, 176, 189. 219, 235,
237;— & Rich, 33;— & Co., J. P., 344
Newmark, Josephine Rose, youngest daughter
of Harris Newmark, 564, 593
Newmark, Leo, son of Harris Newmark, 515
Newmark, Leo, son of J. P. Newmaik, xv, 564,
598
Newmark, Marco R., son of Harris Newmaik,
accompanies parents to Europe, 564; visits
Alaska, 603; graduates from the University
of California and attends the University of
Berlin, 624- enters the wholesale grocery
trade, 624; friendly association with Homer
Lea, 644; vii
Newmark, Matilda, daughter of Joseph New-
mark, 121, 191
Newmark (Neumark), Morris A., nephew of
Harris Newmark, arrives in Los Angeles,
344; clerks for H. Newmark, later H. New-
mark & Co., 3S4; admitted as partner, 444;
marries Harriet, daughter of J. P. Newmark,
444; helps organize M. A. Newmark &
Co., 549; participates in their fiftieth anni-
versary, and receives silver cup, 344; 443,
514. 601
Newmark & Co., M. A., successors to H.
Newmark & Co., 549; removal to Whole-
sale Street, 644; celebrate their fiftieth
anniversary, .343; 517, 535, 559, 600, 624,
629, 644
Newmark, Maurice H., son of Harris New-
mark, sent to school in New York and
Paris, 450; partner in M. A. Newmark
& Co., 549; association with first three
fiestas, 606, 607 ; member of Executive Com-
mittee of Sound Money League, 613; Presi-
dent of Associated Jobbers, 619, 635, 637;
Chairman of Supply Committee for Relief
of San Francisco, 634; helps incorporate
Southwest Museum, 647; mem'ber of
Executive Committee, Stephen M. White
Index
675
Newmark, Maurice H. — Continued
Memorial Fund, 469; one of Committee on
Harbor Consolidation, 638; Chairman, W.
C. Mushet Campaign Committee, 639; ap-
pointed Harbor Commissioner, 642; resigns
from Commission, 642; presents silver cup
to M. A. Newmark, at half-century jubilee,
344; V, 497, 545. 6d2
Newmark (Neumark), Max N., nephew of
Harris Newmark, 382; — & Edwards, 382;
— Grain Co., 382
Newmark, Myer J., son of Joseph Newmark,
journeys to California via the Horn, 121;
keeps diary of the voyage, 121; arrives in
Los Angeles, 121; serves, later, as member
of the Coleman Vigilance Committee,
San Francisco, 55; admitted to the Bar,
249; as attorney, witnesses killing of
Dorsey by Rubottom, 144; helps organize
the .first public library here, 256; partner in
Howard, Butterworth & Newmark, 312;
Secretary of Los Angeles Mounted Rifles,
294; City Attorney, 46; represents H. New-
mark & Co., in New York, 359; member of
H. Newmark & Co., 422, 444: indirectly
associated with the founding or Pasadena,
449; marries Miss Sophie Cahen, 464; early
purchaser of land at Santa Monica, 480;
dpposes anti-railroad legislation, 489;
pioneer in advertising Los Angeles in the
East, 499; retires from H. Newmark & Co.
and removes to San Francisco, S14; on
Committee, Chaihber of Commerce (later
becoming President), 625; instrumental in
securing the Coronel Collection, 622; in
Europe, 564; returns to Los Angeles, 642;
association with Kaspare Gohn, 642 ;
returns to San Francisco, 642; death there,
642
Newmark (Neumark), Nathan, brother of
Harris Newmark, 7
Newmark (Neumark), Philip, son of Nathan
Newmark, 649
Newmark (Neumark), Philip A., nephew of
Harris Newmark, 6or; — & Co., P., 601.
Newmark, Philip H., son of Harris Newmark,
515
Newmark (Neumark), Philipp, native of
Neumark, West Prussia, and father of
Harris Newmark, i, 360; sent, as a boy, to
Napoleon Bonaparte, i; manufacturer of
blacking and ink, 2; travels in Sweden and
Denmark, 2, 621; voyages to New York. 2;
returns to Europe, 2; resumes enterprises
in Denmark and Scandinavia, 3 ff. ; takes
Harris into business, 4; operates, with son,
workshops at Copenhagen and Gothenburg,
6, 7, 649; consents to lad's departure for
California, 7 ; warns Harris against strangers,
8; death, 360
Newmark, Phineas, son of J. P. Newmark,
559
Newmark, Rosa, wife of Joseph Newmark,
122; removes to Los Angeles, 121. 123:
Srime mover in formation of Ladies
[ebrew Benevolent Society, 409; death of,
482; 464, 637
Newmark, Samuel M., son of J. P. Newmark,
559; — Bros., 559
Newmark, Sarah, daughter of Joseph New-
mark and wife of Harris Newmark, arrives
here via the Horn, 121; narrow escape in
school catastrophe, 224; engaged to Harris
Newmark, 103; marriage, 224; Vice-Presi-
dent, Ladies' Hebrew Benevolent Society,
409; celebrates silver wedding, 538; visits
Mexico, 546; tours Europe, 564; keeps diary
of the journey, 565; revisits Europe, 621;
celebrates golden wedding, 636; death, 640;
interest in orphans, 643; 106, 195
Newmark, Los Angeles County, SSS
New Mexico, 282, 301, 361, 507. S42
New Orleans Exposition, 546
New Orleans Shaving Saloon, 137
Newport, 494
Newport Landing, 506
Newport, steamboat, 506, 507
News, Evening, 612, 635
News, Los Angeles, 283, 306, ziS, 316, 317,
350. 370. 380, 420, 431, 446
News, slow transmission of, 93, 211; — of
the War, 305
News Letter, 339
Newspapers, first issues of, 92, 133, 156, 223,
308, 318, 388, 427, 443, 444, 450, 46s, 495.
516, S30, 533- 54^ 548. 557, 559. 584, 626,
642: — , first free advertising, 533; ■ — , from
the East, 235, 256; illustrated — , 627, 642;
first seven-day issues, 557; — , during the
Boom, 574 ff; — t during the Civil War,
30s. 339. 371
New Town (San Pedro), 236, 290
New Vernon, 579
New Year's, early celebration of, 58, 59
New York City, 12, 13, 14, 17» 359. 4971
shipment of hides to, 331
New York Herald, 497
New York Mine, 475
New York Times, 497
Nicaragua, 14, 18, 236, 459
Nicaragua Route, 13, 18, 467, S17; — , Lake,
15
Nichols, Daniel B., 33, 384
Nichols, John Gregg, 32, 33. 35. 36. 105. nS.
205, 218, 246, 356, 364, 384, 400, 616; Mrs.
—,46
Nichols, John Gregg, Jr., 33
Nichols* Canyon, 455
Nickels, 248
Nido, El, 473
Niedecken, Henry, 508
Nieto, Dolores, 51
Nieto, Manuel, 180
Nietos, rancho, Los, 180, 214, 261, 362; town
of — , 549; — Valley, 413, 577
Nigger Alley, 30, 31, 400, 432, 433, 510
Nordhoff, Charles, 445, 624; — , town of. 624
Nordholt, William, 65, 202, 244; Mrs. — , 202,
24s
Nordlinger, Louis S., 356
Nordlinger.'Melville, 356
Nordlinger, S., 356; — & Sons, 356
Normandie, 564
North Beach, San Francisco, 478
North Beach, Santa Monica, 612
Northcraft, C. L.. 483
Northcraft, W. H., 483; — & Clark, 484
Norton, Myron, 45, 47, 54, 140; — Avenue, 48
Norton, M., 72
Norton, S. B., xvi
Norway, 336, 621
Novius cardinalis, 544
Noyes, E. W., 349, 484
Nuestra Sefiora Reyna de los Angeles^ La, 100
Nurses, scarcity of trained, 409
Nuts, 412
Oak Knoll, 169
Oak trees, 126
Oath of allegiance, 308, 321
Oatman girls, 218
O'Brien, Jack, 348
O'Brien, Thomas, 386
O'Campo, Francisco, 99, 100
O'Campo, Tommy, 429
Occidental College, 566
Occidental Sketches, 361
Ocean, steamer, 308
Ocean Park, 603, 627, 645
676
Index
Ocean Spray, $79
Odd characters, 253, 277, 527, 528, 610
Odd Fellows Lodge No. 35, 49, 149, 355, 402,
624; — halls, 300, 513
Oden, George N., 394
Odontological Society of Southern California,
36S
Off. J. W. A., 607
Offices, 570; furnishing of — , 435, 570
Offutt, R. H., 380
Ogier, Isaac Stockton Keith, 35, 45, 53, 246;
— Street (Lane), 54
Ohio, steamer, 152
Oil, 377, 379, 407, 622; — found in residence
district, 603; — , hair, 138; — Queen, 603
Olden. W. R., 441
Old Mission, 54, 150
Old Oaken Bucket, The, 231
Old Settler's Society, 614
Oleander, 579
Olives and their culture, 92, 212, 302, 412,
472; — oil, 302
Olive Street, 73. 472
Olivewood. 579
OUa-podrida, 118
Ollas, 117, 184
Olney, Mrs. C. R., 628
Olvera, Agustin, 35, 47, 99, 102, 214, 215; —
Street, 99
Olvera, Louisa (later Mrs. C. H. Forbes), 214
Olympia, 436
O'Melveny, H. K. S., 285, 403, 426, 441, 466.
493; Mrs. — , 403
O'Melveny, H. W., 403, 476, 578, 614, 626,
648
Omnibuses, 389, 397, 402
O'Neill, Lillian Nance, 155
On Horseback, 597
Ontario, 516, 579
Onteveras, Pacifico, 212
Opera Comique, Paris, 565
Ophir Mine, 474
Orange, town of, 177, 352
Orange County, 177. 594
Orange Grove Association, 44s, 448
Oranges and orange groves, 211, 212, 286,
352, 382, 391, 412, 448, 532, 576, 578;
orange trees brought from Nicaragua, 459;
first navel oranges, 451, 625; device for
picking oranges, 265
Orchards, 28, 112, 162, 573, 578
Ord, E. O. C, 33. 34. 112, 336; — Survey, 334
O'Reilly, James, 475
O'Reilly, John Boyle, 605
Oriental Restaurant, 491
Oriental Stage Co., 417
Oriflamme, 346
Orizaba, 376, 381, 397, 398, 40S. 465
Orme, Henry S., 371. 423. 614
Ormsby, J. S., 130
Ormsby, W. L., 234
Oropel, 136
Orphans,, homes for, 190, 643
Ortega. Emile C, 87
Ortiz, Miguel, 272
Osborn, John. 373
Osborn, William, 386, 387
Osborne, H. Z., 543, 607
Osburn, William B., 94, 107, 108, 109, 138,
15s, 192, 194
Osgoodby, George, 590
Ostriches, 547; the Ostrich Farm, 547
Otaheite, 254
Olhello, 588
Otis, Harrison Gray, 468, 533. 555. SS6, 557,
589, 607, 616, 626; Mrs. — , 617
Otter hunting, 170
Our Italy, 597
Out of Doors California and Oregon, 476
*'Out of town," 32, 105
Out West Magazine, 542, 646
Overland Mail, 259. 30i, 375; — Co., 234; —
Route, 234, 242, 271, 294; — staging, 91,
234. 267
Overman & Caledonia mines, 477
Overstreet, Dr., 107
Owens, Bob, 138; Mrs. (Aunt Winnie), 138
Owens Lake, cleansing properties of, 387
Owens, Madison T., 607
Owens River and country, 375, 385 fF.; —
Aqueduct, 50, 545; — Mines, 322, 385 ff.;
— Valley, 440
Oxarart, Gaston, 310; — Block, 513
Oxnard. Henry T., 598; — , town of, 599
Oxnard, Robert, 598
Ox-teams, 201, 233
Oyharzabel, Domingo, 549
Oysters, 279
Pacific, 336, 346, 465
Pacific &. Atlantic Telegraph Co., 283
Pacific Coast compared to other countries,
398
Pacific Electric Building, 620
Pacific Light and Power Co., 515
Pacific Mail Steamship Co., 465, 486
Pacific Railway Expedition, 364; — 's view of
Los Angeles, 364
Packard, Albert, 168
Packard, T. T., 500
Packet Service, Coast, 152, 153, 237
Pack-trains, 272
Padilla, Juan N., 32, 244; — Building, 57
Padres (see Mission Fathers)
Paisano, 159
Palace Saloon, 455
Palacio, El, 223
Palmas, Dos, 414
Palmer, Joseph C., 272
Palomares, Ygnicio, 174, 179: — , town of,
578
Palos Verdes rancho, 71, 182. 357, 581
Panama Canal, 236, 651; — Route and travel,
13. 46, 142. 30s. 315. 359, 532, 623; —
hat, 158, 159; — , Kern County, 453
Panamint, 387, 479
Pan de huevos, 134
Panic following prosperity, 478
Panocha, 134
Paper, local manufacture of, 384
Pardee, George C, 631
Paris, 67, 360, 450, 564; — , Commune, 491;
— , Exposition, 1855, 164; — , Exposition,
1867, 360
Paris Exposition Circus, 381
Parish, E. C, 92
Parisian, 381
Parker House, San Francisco, 22
Parker, E. S., 512
Parkman, Francis, xii
Parks, 97, 388, 417, 539, S57» 6l4» 643
Parnell mines, 475
Parris, Willis, 483
Parrott, Dr., 200
Parson, A. C, 630
Parson, A. M., 630
Pasadena, 178. 238, 316, 337, 445, 557, 576,
578, 579. 585. 586, 592, 599, 601, 613; — ,
Colony and Settlement, 50, 532; — , origin
of name, 448; South — , 586; — Railroad,
563 ,
Paso de Aguila, El, 82
Paso de Robles, 329, 496
Paso, El, 546
Passports, 163, 315
Pastores, Los, 102
Pastrymen, 288
Patagonia Copper Mining Co., 276
Index
677
Patents to lands, 146, 166, 172, i73t I74. I79.
182, 244, 275, S09
Patios, 113, 135
Patrick, M. S., 472
Pattee, Frank A., 646
Patterson, W. C, 607, 626
Patti, Adelina, 590, 607
Patton, George S. and Mrs., 363
Patton, George S., Jr., 363, 568; Mrs. — , 363
Patton, Harry, 612
Paul, C. T., 5 16
Paulding, Joseph, 261
Pavements, 519, 561, 584
Pawnbrokers, 221
Payne, Henry T., 465. 499. 557
Paynter, J. W., 427
Peach and honey, 40
Peackbrand, chewing tobacco, 253
Pearl Street, 231, 362, 461, 559
Pease, 126
Pease, Niles, 607, 634
Peck, George H., 452, 453
Pedro, game of, 230
Pedro, the Indian, 124
Peel, B. L., 425, 436; — & Co., B. L., 425
Pekin Curio Store, 232
Pellissier, Germain, 362
Penelon, Henri, 82, 293
Pennies, 248, 511
Peoples, Superintendent, 415
People's Store, 530
Pepper trees, 97, 291
Pepys, Samuel xi; — Diary, xiii
Perry, Everett R., 639
Perry^ Lewis, 237, 276
Perry, Mamie (Perry-Davis, later Mrs. Modini
Wood), 528, 529
Perry, W. H., 66, 8r, 162, 317. 349, 366, 428,
521, 528, 543. 636; Mrs. — , 66, 162, 528;
^- & Co., 81; — & Woodworth, 81, 82, 127,
412
Persimmon tree, 163
Peru, 71, 120, 162, 389, 542
Pescadero, 127
Pesthouse, 118
Peter, Father, 553
Petroleum, 459
Petsch, A., 607
Peyton, Valentine, 604
Pflugardt, George W., 206
Phseton, first here, 511
Phelps, E. C, 405
Philadelphia, 497; — Brewery, 197, 500; — ,
Centennial at, 497; — Oil Co., 170; — &
California Oil Co., 302
Philbin, John, 248, 249
"Philip's Best" beer, 231
Philippines, 616
Philippi, Jake, 230
Phillips, Louis, 89. 53i; — Block, 115, 530;
161, 330, 421; Mrs. — , 89
Photographers, 82, 293, 364, 465; wet-plate
~. 36s
Physical culture, first, 273
Physicians, 26, 58, 92, 94. 99. 106, 107 ff.,
193. 227, 237, 24s, 322, 389, 423. 548, 589,
593, 598. 641, 648
Pianos, 376
Pianos and their Makers, 628
Picayune, 192
Picher, Anna B., 622, 628
Picnics, 132, 397. 401, 429
Pico, Andres, 38, 92, 99. I35. 172, 173, 178.
179, 180, 190, 208, 214, 381, 400, 441, 488,
493; — ranches, 179
Pico, Antdnio Maria, 297
Pico, Jesus, 178
Pico, Pio, 27, 98, 99, 102. 160, 170. 173. 177.
179- 180, 293, 294, 297, 332, 400, 471. 531.
608; — Crossing, 180; — Heights, 609; —
House, 98, 180, 186, 396, 431. 469, 488.
491, 500, 516, S18; — ranches, 180; —
Spring, 346; — Street, 73. 125
Pico, Ysidora, 173
Pierce, Edward T., 532
Pierce, Franklin, 65, 121
Pierce, H. A., 121
Pierce, N. & Co., 152
Pigeon messengers, 430
Pig lead, 387
Pike, George H., 590
Pilgrim, brig, 226
Pilon, 77
Pinafore, S47
Pinikahti, 277. 278
Pinney Block, 192
Pinole, 134
Pintoresca, 586
Pioneer Oil Co., 346
Pioneer Race Course, 303
Pioneers, banquet to, 630; neglected duty of
— , vii; early proposed society of — , 561;
— first as tourists, 353 _
Pioneers of Southern California, Los Angeles
County, 239, 614
Pipes, clay and brier, 253
Pipes, iron, 365, 377, 384, 445; — , wooden,
.350, 366
Pitch-roofs, 114
PiteS, 4
Pi-Utes, 275
Pixley, Frank, 525
Plains, continental, 71, 77, 82, 304, 403; local
significance of, 276
Planters Hotel, Anaheim, 643
Plater, John E., 467, 607
Playa del Rey, 125, 459, 490
Plaza, 30, 31, 47, 66, 97. 98, 99. 100, loi, 106,
107, 112, 115, 149, 210, 224, 232, 254, 262,
272, 281, 285, 294, 296, 300, 381, 385. 388,
417, 418, 461, 488, sir, 518, 535. 557; —
water tank, 211, 388, 418
Plaza Church, 82, 97, 100, loi, 112, 114, 258,
293, 628; — , repairing of, 293
Plaza Hotel, San Juan Bautista, 270
Plaza, San Francisco, 21, 98
Pleasant Valley, 496
Pleasants, J. E., 106, 126, 127, 171, 326, 413,
^ 494 .
Ploennies, Otto von, 499
Plows, iron and steel, 357
Plumbers' tools, brought from San Francisco,
384
Plunger, luck of a, 333
Pocahontas, gunboat, 350
Poe, Edgar Allan, loi
Poker playing, 55, I54
Polaski, Isidor, 70
Polaski, Louis, 70; — & Goodwin, 70; — &
Sons, 70
Polaski, Myer L., 70
Polaski, Samuel, 70; — Bros., 70
Polhamus, A. A., 384, 393
Police, first chief of, 510; tack of — , 333; poor
— protection, 487
Politeness, accident due to excessive, 419
Political celebrations, 268; — gatherings, 40,
282, sii
Pollitz, Edward, 230
Pollock, merchant, 70; — & Goodwin, 70
Polonia, 253
Pomegranates, 126
Pomona, 330, 576; — Valley, 578
Pond, Edward B., 598
Ponet, Victor, 382
Pony Express, 245, 264, 291, 294, 373
Population of Los Angeles, 2$, 266, 271, 528,
567
Porches, 113
Porcupine, 57
678
Index
Portable houses, 203
Port Ballona, 579; — Harford, 346: — Los
Angeles, 468; — San Carlos, 16; — San Luis,
Porter, David Dixon, 222
Porter, F. B., 459
Porter, George K., 459
Porter, murder of, 35
Porterfield, W. H., 610
Portius, Dr., 599
Portland, Oregon, 373
Portoli, Caspar de, 627
Portugal, Adolph, 244, 248, 311, 34^
Portuguese Bend, 581
Posse, Sheriff's, 206, 348, 455, 457, 471; —
comitatus, 324, 433
Postage stamps, sale of, 431; — , scarcity of,
410
Post, delay of, 93. 147. 264
Postmasters, remuneration of early, 380, 449
Post Office, 66, 94, 231, 291, 349, 354, 372,
380, 410, S14. 560, 604, 630
Potatoes, 331
Potomac Block, 115
Potrero Crande, 181
Potter, Nehemiah A., 203, 218, 246; — & Co.,
219
Potter, O. W., 40s
Potts, J. Wesley, 61, 126
Poulterer, De Ro & Eldridge, 281
Pound Cake Hill, 301, 374, 452
Powers, Ethel, 645
Powers, L. M., 634
Prager, Charles, 104, 180, 383
Prager, Sara, 104, 105, 314. 383
Prairie schooners, 201, 345, 414
Prentice, B. H., xvi
Presbyterians, 566
Prescott, 415, 416
President of the United States, gift to, 219
Prentiss, Samuel, 238
Preuss, Edward, 409; Mrs. — ,39; — & Pironi,
363
Prevost, Louis, 390
Price, Burr, xvi
Prices of commodities, early, 345
Prickly pear, 126
Pride of the Sea, clipper-brig, 237
Pridham, George, 405, 481
Pridham, R. W,, 606, 607, 611
Pridham, William, 106, 373, 374, 481; Mrs.
— r 373; — Block, 192
Principal, Calle, 31
Prisoners on public works, 286
Pro- Cathedral, Episcopal, 301
Processions, loi, 254. 296, 338, 442, 499, 528,
529, 606
Progrhs, le, 541
Progressive Party, 639, 642
Prohibition, convention, 13; first — commun-
ity, 340
Promontory Point, Utah, 388
Property, low valuations of, 37, 220, 379. 572
Protestants and the Protestant Church, 102,
103, 208, 246, 313- 314. 516
Providencia, locomotive, 593
Providencia rancho, 74, 578
Provincial life in the late sixties, 377
Prudhomme (Prudhon), L. Victor, 62, 427
Pryor, Charles, 293
Pryor, Lottie, 293
Pryor (Prior), Nathaniel (Miguel N.), 292,
2<)3; Mrs. — , first wife, 293; Mrs. — , second
wife, 293 ,
Pryor, Nathaniel, Jr., 293
Pryor, PablOj 293
Pueblo-like life of the early sixties, 266
Puente, la, 475, 494, 520; — Creek, 471; —
■Mills, 470; — oil, 172, 377; — rancho, 87,
172, 242* 377
Puertp San Miguel, Barcelona, 490
Pursuits, humble, 79
Pyle, B. W., 235, 236
Q
Quakers, 449, 576
Quartermaster, U. S. A., 246, 265, 297
Queen City, proposed town of, 318
Queen & Gard, 370
Queen of the Pacific, steamship, 602
Quimby, C. H., xvi
Quinces, 126
Race track, 462
Raffles, 385
Raho, Padre Bias, 293
Railroads, 331, 352, 363, 370, 373, 380, 402,
. 423, 430, 440, 452, 486. 507. 556, 562, sSi,
583, 604, 614, 630; accidents, 536, 583;
affected by steamers, 404; Railroad Com-
mission, 620; excursions, 393, 394, 404, 430,
442, 485, 525; first fight against the —
companies, 506, 507; locomotives, 376, 380,
397. 402; first one built here, 592; war
between — s, 556, 570; San Pedro — (see
Los Angeles & San Pedro R. R.) ; opposi-
tion to — s, 354, 441; private cars, 487;
Seward's prediction as to — s, 399
Raimond, R. E., 283
Rainfall, effect and importance of, 34, 215,
309. 329, 360, 380; rains, 241, 289, 328,
329, 487, 541
Rains, Fannie V., 617
Rains, John, 197. 302, 326, 348, 617; Mrs. — ,
168
Raisins, 412
Ralphs, George A., 550; Mrs. — , 550; — &
Francis Grocery, 550; — Grocery Co., S50
Ralston. W. C. 477, 478
Ramirez, Andres, 63
Ramirez, B. F., 443
Ramirez, Francisco P., 156, 333, 493
Ramirez, town of, 575
Ramona, 41, 102, 445, 520, 531
Rancherias, 176, 520
Ranch stores, 175
Ranchito, 98, 470
Ranchos and rancheros, 84, no, 166 ff., 175,
181, 214, 242, 313, 329, 332, 340, 344, 421;
ranch fences, 167, 274; Spanish ranch
houses, 167
Ranger, Reminiscences of a, 58
Rangers, 35, S3. S8, 74. 83, 99, 139, 147, 207.
221
Rankin, Collector, 306
Rapp, William, 480
Rate war, 556, 557
Rattlesnakes, 415
Rattlesnake Island, 174, 268, 426, 601
Ravenna, Manuel, 233, 234, 475
Ravenna, town of, 475
Rawson, A. M., 619
Raymond, 576, 578, 579; — Hotel, 576, 586
Real Castillo, 424
Real Estate Advertiser, 370
Real estate, 232, 332, 333-.362, 401, 513, 522,
569 ff., 583; leap frog with — , 536; sudden
advances in — , 570
Realty agents, first, 401
Reata, 34, 85, 92, 150, 333
Reaume, Captain, 381
Rebbick, Lydia, 250
Rebozos, 66, 158
Record, Los Angeles, 610
Records, Edward, 557
Redlands. 176, 591
Index
679
Redondo, boom at, 631, 632; — Salt Works,
133. 492
Red Rock, 387
Redwood, 230
Reed, Henry, 316
Reed, maniac, 220
Reed, Thomas Brackett, 614
Reese, Michael, 329, 520
Refreshments, 184
Refrigerator cars, 623
Registration of 1869 voters, 401
Reid, Hugo, 8g, 107; Mrs. — , 165; — .library
of, 47
Reid, Templeton, 130
Religious services held in courts, 314, 339
Rendall, Stephen A., 364
Repetto, Alessandro, 421, 454, 458, 552 fT.;
— rancho, 450, 552, 555; — 's brother, 553 ff.
Republican, Evening, 495, 533
Republicans, 91, 285, 296, 323, 639; "black"
— , 240
Requena, Manuel, 38, 105, 190, 219, 253; —
Street, 32, 38
Restaurant life, early, 27, 369, 490; outdoor
restaurants, 340
Reward unpaid by L. A. County, 425
Reyes, Pablo, 202
Reyes, Ysidro, 202
Reynolds, C. C, 619, 635, 637
Reynolds, J. J., 3S9, 397, 417. 429
Rhea, Mile., 543
Rheim, Philip (Felipe), 58, 59, 64
Rice, 329
Rice, George D., 612
Rice, Mr., 502
Rich, B. B., xvi
Rich, Jacob, 19, 21, 23, 24, 32, 60, 61, 118,
189; Mrs. — , first Jewess to settle here, 60,
61, 104; — Bros., 12; — & Laventhal,
1S9; — , Newmark & Co., 146
Richards, C. N. & Co., 133
Richland, 352
Rico, Mr. and Mrs., 181
Riis, Jacob A., 642
Riley, Frank, 262
Rinaldi, C. R., 377
Rincon de los Bueyes, 460
Rincon rancho, 74
Rio Colorado, U. S. Surveying Expedition to,
183
Rio Grande, 222, 232
Rise and Fall of the Mustache, The. 588
Ritchie, William, 320
Rivara, Dominico, 550
Rivera, iSo, 577
Riverside, 175, 391. 451
River Station, S3i
Robarts, John, 5:^5, 554 ^^
Robert, Dent H., 626
Robidoux Hill, 175
Robidoux, Louis, 64, 174. 176. I77. 374. 39i;
Sehora — , 175; — Mount, 175; — rancho,
391; — , spelling of name, 176
Robinson, Edward I., xvi
Robinson, J. C. 594. 595
Robinson, J. W., 536; — Co., 513; — Dry
Goods Co., 536
Robinson, W. W., 587
Rocha, A. J., 37
Rocha, Jacinto, 174
Rock-fish, 127
Rocky Mountain Circus, Bartholomew's, 262
Rodeos, 182, 242
Rodgers, Walter E., 455
Roeder, Louis, 153, 154. 239,267; — Block,
267
Rogers, Ralph, 568
Roju, Manuel Clemente, 53, 54. 56
Roller-skating, 426
Roman Catholics (see under Catholics)
Rome, 398
Romero, Guadalupe, 226
Roofs, of tar, 114; — , tiled, 114; — . weighted
with stones, 336
Roosevelt, Theodore, 625, 629
Roosters, game, 162
Rosa, Jose de la, 93
Rose, Annie Wilhelmina, 403
Rose, L. J., 43, 200, 28s, 286, 403, 421, 426,
427, 439. 441. 472, 483. 578, 584. 5"^5< 5S9,
592; Mrs. (Amanda) — , 578; Rose Meade,
592
Rose, Truman H., 389, 390, 419. 452; Mrs.' — ,
390
Rosecrans, William Starke, 33, 382, 397; — .
town of, 579
Rosedale, 609; — Cemetery, 548, 567
Rose Tournament at Pasadena, first, 592
Roses, imported from the East, 139
Ross, Erskine Mayo, 230, 488, 565, 607
Ross, W. G., 150
Round House, 41, 64, 126, 192, 259, 272, 273,
42S, 499, 522, 585; — George, 193. 4^3
Rouse, W. J., xvi
Row, The, 61, 351
Rowan, George D., 510
Rowan, James, 191
Rowan, P. D., 511
Rowan, R. A., 511; — & Co., 511
Rowan, Thomas E., 191, 269, 383, 405, 446,
552, 606; Mrs. — , 191; — Avenue, 191;
— Street, 191
Rowland, John, 87, 91, 106, 172, 211, 421,
494; Mrs. — , 91
Rowland, Nieves, 172
Rowland, William (Billy), 172, 377. 454. 455.
458, 532
Royere, Paul P., xii
Rubio, Jose de, 23, 201, 202; Seiiora — , 202,
609; Rubio's, 202
Rubottom, Ezekiel, 91, 144
Rubottom, William (Uncle Billy), 91, 144
Rugby School, 422
Rule, Ferdinand K., 597, 607, 625
Rumph, John and Frau, 402
Russ Garden, San Francisco, 275
Russia, steamship, 360
Ryan, Andrew W., 493
Ryan, F. G., 603
Rydall, E. H., 547
Sabichi, Frank, 171, 607
Sabichi, Josefa Franco, 171
Sabichi, Mateo, 171
Sabine Pass, 350
Sachs & Co., L. & M., 381
Sackett & Morgan, 346
Sackett. Russell, 36
Sackville-West, Lord, 590
Sacramento, 260, 389, 403, 453, 496, 562
Saddle-horses, 157
Saddles and saddlery, 74, 82, 85, no, in, 132,
157. 159, 291,383, 473. 528
Saeger, J., 619
Safes, for valuables and money, 129, 343, 4S7
Saginaw, steamer, 341
Sailing vessels, 237, 290, 345; from and to the
Atlantic, 151, 331. (See also under Cape
Horn) _
Sainsevain, Jean Louis, 132, 163, 197, 198, 239,
254, 265, 273. 300, 350, 365. 366, 369. 592;
— Bros., 199; — Street, 199; — Vineyard,
198
Sainsevain, Louis, xvi
Sainsevain, Michel, 199
Sainsevain, Paul, 199
Sainsevain, Pierre, 198, 199, 265
St. Athanasius Church, 301
68o
Index
St. Charles Hotel, 469, 514
St. Elmo Hotel, 252, 469, 525, 613
St. George d'016ron, France, 281
St. Taraes, 579
St. Louis, 416
St. Paul's School, 340
St. Valentine's Day, 46, 296
St. Vincent's College, 232, 341
Salaberri, Juan, 549; — & Co., J.» 549
Salandie, Mme., 78
Salesmen, traveling, 521
Salinas City, 497
Saloons, 21, 29. 30, 31, 39, 59, 64. 134. I49,
209. 230, 347, 405. 480, S70; — , synonym
for shops, 137, 396
Salsido, Vicente, 114
Salt Lake City, 66, 74. ISS. 187. 233, 248, 304,
345, 351, 498; — , Great, 187; — , trade
with, 187, 290
Salt Lake Express, Great, 155
Salt Lake Route, 82
Salt, Liverpool, 557
Samsbury, Stephen, 424
San Ant6nio rancho, 174, 220, 263
San Bernardino, 71. 74. 88, 90, 150, 155, 165,
187, 198, 207, 233, 234, 242, 287, 312, 313,
323, 337. 366, 411, 414. 41S. 549; —
County, 87» 281, 426
San Bernardino Mountains, 350, 370; — , ice
from, 191. 247. 370
San Bernardino rancho, 263
San Buenaventura, 153, 209, 246, 298, 395, 496
San Carlos, Port, 16
San Clemente Island, 216
San Diego, 28, 67, 71* 152, 160, 207, 397, 398,
411, 418, 472, 589, 633; — . Old Town,
153. 367; — County, 426, 531
San Diego, 520. 589, 633
San Diego & Gila River Railroad, 382
San Dimas, 578, 579
San Feliciano Canon, 95
San Fernando, 386, 459, 496, 516, 579; —
Farm Association, 381
San Fernando Mission, 92, 120, 196, 459
San Fernando Mountains, 321, 323, 385, 459,
502
San Fernando placers, 313
San Fernando ranches, 179, 180, 381, 459
San Fernando Street, 63, 160, 493; — railroad
station, 211
San Fernando tunnel, 323, 386, 459, 496, 502;
— , declared impossible, 503; — , inaugura-
tion of, 504
San Fernando Valley, 275, 531; — and bears,
447
San Francisco, 19 ff., 39, 71, 73. 120, 152, 153,
160, 199, 211, 216, 233, 240, 242, 260, 283,
284, 294, 296, 322, 325, 359, 397, 401, 411,
4I7t 453, 497r S04; — compared with Los
Angeles, 582; — , dependence of Los Angeles
on, 73, 152, 305, 311, 313, 332, 384, 405,
406, 410, 438; theatrical talent from — ,
286, 381, 422; — earthquake and fire, 633 ff.,
636; relief furnished — by Los Angeles,
634; — , first three-story building there,
610; — Grand Opera House, 560; lead
shipped to — , 388; — Dock & Wharf Co.,
269; — rancho, 40, 120; — & San Jos6 Valley
Railroad, 393; — as a standard of com-
parison, 491
San Francisquito Cafion, 95; — Ranch, 170,
^74
San Gabriel, so, 54. 7i. 87, 89, 90, 106, 107,
126, 161, 165, 199, 208, 376, 384, 386, 579;
— Canon, 95; locomotive, 376
San Gabriel Electric Co., 515
San Gabriel Mission, 55. 88, 102, 171, I99.
200, 255, 286, 493. SOI
San Gabriel Mountains, 179
San Gabriel placers, 313
San Gabriel River, 91, 180, 257, 471; New — ,
406
San Gabriel, sheep at, 216
San Gabriel Valley, 90, 91. 107, 168, 374, 531,
576
San Gabriel Wine Co., 302
San Jacinto and Valley, 374, 620
San Joaquin Ranch, 181, 206
San Joaquin Valley, 440 ; — rate case, 619, 620
San Jos6, 153. 234, 357, 453, 458, 497
San Jos6 rancho, 144, 174, 178, 179, 476
San Juan Bautista, 270
San Juan Caj6n de Santa Ana, 166
San Juan Capistrano, 157, 181; Don San Juan
and Don San Juan Capistrano, 173; —
Mission, 92, 206, 207, 254, 326
San Juan de Fuca, 346
San Juan del Norte, 14, 15, 18
San Juan del Sur, 16, 17, 18
San Juan River, 15
San Luis Obispo, 22, 48, 153, 178, 188, 246,
496; — County, 246, 447
San Luis, 465
San Pasqual rancho, 36, 178, 237. 316, 346,
412, 448
San Pedro, 22, 23, 24, 27, 48, 68, 74, 127, 152,
155. 156, 170, 173, 188, 197, 199, 202, 205,
227, 236, 24s, 250, 274, 276, 290, 301, 302,
306, 308, 346, 359, 380, 395, 404. 424. 427,
460, 468, 522, 637, 638
San Pedro Harbor, 174, 268, 290, 320, 404,
426, 450, 468, 581, 617. 618; — fight, 617
San Pedro, journey by foot from, 68, 149
San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad,
341, 535. 630
San Pedro, New, 236, 250, 290, 302, 307, 317,
321
San Pedro New Town, 236, 290, 307
San Pedro Railroad (see under Los Angeles)
San Pedro, rancho de, 173, 340
San Pedro Street, 25, 160, 200, 202, 335, 459;
— Railway, 487. 488
San Pedro Wharf, 568
San Quentin Prison, 206, 326
San Rafael Ranch, 178. 214; — Heights, 646
San Timoteo Canon, 591
San Vicente rancho, 143, 181, 479, 586
Sanchez, Francisco, 181
Sanchez Hall, 99
Sanchez, Juan Matias, 181, 421, 478
Sanchez, Pedro, 183
Sanchez, Tomas A., 43, 99, 275, 324, 326, 344
Sanchez, Vicente, 99, 114, 294; — Street, 99,
293
Sandia, 126
Sandwich Islands, 93, 156, 320, 390
Sandy Hook, 12
Sanford, E. M., 362, 403
Sanford, John, 327
Sanford, Rebecca, 327
Sanford, W. T. B., 105, 187, 320, 327; Mrs.
— . 320
Sanford, Mr., 217
Sangiovanni, A. Bergamo, 528
Sanitary Commission, U . S., and San Francisco
325; — and Los Angeles, 326
Sanitation, primitive, 119
Sansome Street, San Francisco, 22
Santa Ana, 166, 177, 401, 576, 594; — River,
212, 348, 391, 406; — , new channel, 541
Santa Anita, 578; — Mining Co., 241; —
placers, 313; ■ — rancho, 170, 244, 439, 449,
474. 526
Santa Barbara, 22, 48, 108, 152, 153, 244, 246,
399. 411. 436, 496, 583; — Channel, 216; —
County, 108, 426; — , road to, 246
Santa Catalina Island. 15, 89, 216, 238, 318,
333. 407. 430, 522, 568, 624; 1859 excursion
to — , 250 £E.; proposed harbor of — , 581;
— Co., 568
Index
68i
Santa Clara River, 40
Santa Cruz Island, 216
Santa Cruz, Mariano G., 162, 458, 549
Santa F6 Railroad, (see Atchison, Topeka &
Santa F6)
Santa F6, town of, 63, 83, 187
Santa Gertrudis rancko, 180, 340, 362
Santa Margarita rancho, 173, iSo, 332, S3i
Santa Monica, 231, 429, 460, 465, 466, 46S,
479 ff., 485 ff., 490, 568. 569, 580, 581, 603,
621; advertising — ,486, 580; sale of first
lots at — , 479, 480; gravity railroad, 569;
opposition of Southern Pacific Railroad to
— , 521; — Canon, 401, 429; — hotels, 479,
488, 568; — Land Co., 486, 488,586; — .
South, 488
Santa Monica, palace car. 487
Santiago Canon, 127, 207, 494
Sarah Gamp, 250
Saratoga mineral waters, 363
Sarco, race horse, 160
Sartori, Joseph F., 143
Saunders & Co., J. B., 371
Sausal Redondo, 382
Savannah, war-ship, 182
Savarie J., 527
Savarots, J. B., 549
Sawmill, fu-st, 81
Sawtelle, 586
Saxe, H. K., 355
Saxon, Thomas A., 501
Scale, fluted, 544
Schaeffer, Henry C. G., 147- 299
Scheller, L. C, 619, 635, 637
Schieck, Dan and Mrs., 117
Schieffelin, Charles L., 396
SchiS, Ludwig, xvi
Schiller, Johann Christoph Friedrich, 119
Schlesinger, Herman, 75, 177; — & Sherwin-
sky, 76, 177
Schlesinger, Jacob, 350, 471
Schlesinger, Louis, 320, 329
Schlesinger, Moritz, 75, 76, 350
Schliemann, Heinrich, 20
Schloss, Benjamin, 290
Schmitt, H.. 491
Schneider, J. M., 536, 638
SchoUe Bros., 381
School for Scandal, 543
School teachers, 163, 402
Schools, 54, 105 ff.. 156, 190, 211, 262, 308,
321, 341. 354. 355. 356, 390, 419. 453, 494.
526, 533, 547t 610, 625. 626, 642; — .lack of
public money for, 257; — closed for want
of money, 211; dirty — , 262; private — ,
106, 225, 257, 341. 49d. 563. 622; — and
sectarianism. 269; sewing in — , 547- (See
also under Teachers)
Schooners, coastwise freight, 65, 152, 170, 237,
276, 290, 331
Schreiber, Emanuel, 608
Schreiber, W. G., 607
Schulze, A. W., 303
Schumacher, Frank G., 39
Schumacher, John, 39. 40, 64, 85, 200, 356,
376, 419, 500; Mrs. — , 39. 40; — Building,
39. 40
Schumacher, John, Jr., 39. 007
Schurz, Carl, 406
Schwabenverein, 584
Schwarz, Louis, 230
Schwed, Max, 549
Sciscisch, Lucas, 550
Scott Exclusion Act, 468
Scott, Frankie, 355
Scott, Hattie. 355
Scott, Jonathan R., 45, 46. 53, 87, 139. 176,
209. 355. 356; Mrs. — , 46
Scott. J. R., Jr., 46
Scott, J. W.. 568
Scott, Joseph, 469. 60s, 626, 638, 647
Scott. P. M.. 587
Scott & Co.. E. L., 153
Scotti, 553 ff.
Scripps, E. W., 610
Scully, Thomas J., 610
Sea Bird, steamer, 152, i8r, 204, 205
Seabury, Mr., 519
Sea-captains, 10, ii, 12, 22, 40. 05. 66, I2i»
152, 153. 154. 226, 251. 276, 308, 311. 3x2,
320, 352, 359; brutality of — , 352
Sea Eagle, brig, 610
Search, P. W., 607
Searles, Moses, 94
Sea Serpent, schooner, 152
Seattle, 602
Second Street, 419, 477. 5i8, 563, 570
Security of property on the desert, 387
Security Trust and Savings Bank, 358, 631
Sedgwick, Thomas, 397
Seeley, Thomas W., 154. 3i2. 320
Seligman, Carl, 517, 549
Semi-Tropical California, 361
Semi-Weekly Southern News (see under News)
Senator, steameT, 153, I54. 210, 264, 285. 290,
300, 306, 312, 320. 326, 336. 465
Sentous, Jean, 78; — Street, 78
Sentous, Louis, 78
Sentous, Louis, Jr., 78
Sepulveda. Andronico, 181
Sepulveda, Ascenci6n, 181, 309
Sepulveda, Bernabe, 181
Sepulveda, Diego, 87. 181
Sepulveda, Dolores, 181
Sepulveda, Fernando, ,181, 262
Sepulveda, Francisca Abila, 309
Sepulveda, Francisca, 100, iSi
Sepulveda, J., 120
Sepulveda, Joaquin, iSi
Sepulveda, Jose Andres, 57, 97. 104, 160, 181,
206, 210, 309; Sehora — , 160; — Avenue,
57
Sepulveda, Jos<^ del Carmen. 181
Sepulveda, Jose Loreto, 71, 181
Sepulveda, Juan, 35, 181
Sepulveda, Juan Maria, i8r
Sepulveda Landing, 202
Sepulveda, Mauricio, i8i
Sepulveda, Miguel, 181
Sepulveda, Petra Pilar, 71
Sepulveda, Ramona, iSi
Sepulveda, R. D., xvi
Sepulveda, Tomasa, 181
Sepulveda, Tranquilina, 181
Sepulveda, Ygnacio, 57. iSi, 314. 420, 424,
443. 489. 519. 546; Mrs. — , 546
Sequoya League, 542
Serapes, 66, 15S
Serenades. 184, 467
Serra, Junlpero, 88, 627
Serrano. Jose. 199
Servants. Chinese, 123; Indian — , 124; — ,
San Francisco agency for. 313
Seventh Infantry Band. 579
Seventh Street, 472, 535
Severance, Caroline, 473. 566
Severy, Calvin Luther, xvi
Severy, Luther, 549
Seward, Frederick and Mrs., 397
Seward, William Henry, 49, 339, 397 ff*.
440
Sewers, 265. 469. 472
Sexton, Daniel, 254
Seymour, (Johnson) & Co., 483
Shankland. J. H., 476
Shark hunting, 268, 308
Shasta, proposed State of, 241
Shatto. George R., 568; — Street. 568
Shaw, Dr. and Mrs., 459
Shaw, Frederick Merrill, 610
682
Index
Sheep, 167. 216, 218, 220, 310, 322, 332, 362,
374. 381. 419. 437. 445. S07; — shearing,
362; — , bet on races, 160; — wash, 252
Sherman, John. 547
Sherman, M. H., 612
Sherman, William Tecumseh, 17, 18, 20, 21,
55. 107, 255. 328
Sherman, town of, 382
Sherwinsky, Tobias, 75, 177
Sheward, J. T., 607
Shields, James, 271
Shiloh, Battle of, 295, 316
Shoes and shoemakers, 86, 159, 213
Shoe-String strip, the, 637
ShoQ-Fly Landing, 459
Shooting alleys, 402
Shorb, J. de Barth, 169, 302, 445, 483; Mrs.
— , 302; — Station, 169, 302
Shore, John W., 39
Shore, William H., 246
Shrimps, 446
Shrine Auditorium, 639
Shrubbery, imported from the East, 139
Sichel, Julius, 72
Sichel, Parisian oculist, 164
Sichel, Philip, 290
Sichel Street, 290
Sidewalks, 20, 34, 211, 226, 229, 287, 343, 518
Side-wheelers, 153
Siemens, Judge, 539
Sierra Madre and Colony, 168, 519, 526, 563,
595; — Mountains, 526
Sierra Nevada, 346
Sigel, Franz, 406
Signal Hill, 374
Signoret, Felix, 137, 420; — Building, 252,
420
Signs, early, 80, iii; — , painters of, 94
Silent, Charles, 596, 615
Silent, Edward D., 596, 607
Silk industry, 390; — worms, 391
Silver, Herman, 594, 595
Silver, supply of in the fifties, 129; — coins,
first from San Francisco mint, 247
Simi Pass, 208
Simmie, J. W., 568
Simmons, John, 335. 439
Simmons, Mrs., nurse, 250
Simpkins, Charles H., 4S9
Simpson, Frank, 638
Sims, Columbus, 51. 55, 246, 296, 303
Sinsabaugh, H., 552
Sisson, Wallace & Co., 482
Sisters' Hospital, 100, 233, 553
Sisters of Charity, 100, 189, 190, 203; Sister
Ana,'i9o, 210; — Angela, 190; — Clara, 190;
— Francisca, 190; — Maria Corzina, 190;
— Maria Scholastica, 190
Sitka, 602
"Sixteen to One," 613
Sixth District Agricultural Association, 640
Sixth Street, 73, 231, 375, 461, 515
Skat, 230
Skinner & Small, 467
Sketchley, Dr., 547
Skull Valley, 415
Slaney Bros., 86
Slaughter, F. N.. 426
Slauson, James S., 546
Slauson, Jonathan S., 467, 476, 546, 561, 578,
625, 626
Slotterback, Henry, 230
Slugs, gold, 130, 160; — , thrown to actors, 186
Small, C. M., 40S
Smallpox, 118, 202, 322, 329, 508
Sraeltzer, D. E., 125
Smiley, Albert K., 591
Smiley, Alfred H., 591; — Heights, 591
Smith, Aaron, 446
Smith, Charles W., 614
Smith, D. K., 455, 457
Smith, Emily R., xvi
Smith, George, 279
Smith, George A., 639
Smith, George H., 351, 363, 443, 521; Mrs.
— . 363
Smith, Josephine Rosanna, 411
Smith, Orrin, 268
Smith, William A., 118
Smith & McPhee, 567
Smith & Walter, 377
Smoking, 252; — in the street cars, 463
Smurr, C. F., 561
Snow, 314. 525
Snyder, Meredith P., 469, 613, 638
Soap, first manufacture of, 78
Social customs, 135, 136, 184, 224, 228, 347
Social distinctions, absence of, 185
Social life, simplicity of, 1S5; — , marked by
cordiality, 135, 184, 312, 383
Society Islands, 254
Soda in Owens Lake, 387
Soda water and fountains, 363
Soderhamn, 4
Sohms, Henry, 340
Solano, Alfredo, 78, 545. 607
Solano, Francisco, 78
Solar heater, inventor of, 615
Soldiers, 586; — Home, 143; — , return of, to
the Coast, 353
Soledad, 375. 496; — Pass, 440
Solomon, David, 342, 343
Solomon, M. S., 608
Sombrero, 158, 264
Song of the Bell. The, 119
Sonita, 205
Sonora, 42, 90, 205
Sonora Town, 31, 62 £E., 78, 97, I34» 161, 227,
362, 458, 549
Sortorel, Romo, 433
Sound Money League, 613
South Africa, 547
South California, proposed State of, 591
South Pasadena, 178, 448
Southern California, 22, 26, 95, 146, 166 ff.,
168, 176, 183, 187, 205, 211, 215, 242, 252,
261, 274, 328, 334, 421, 437, 439, 450, 477.
493. 503, 519. 520, 530, 544, 569, 597, 616,
640, 645, 650; — in State affairs, 35, 353,
406
Southern California Academy of Science, 599,
640; — Science Association, 599
Southern California Architects Association,
470
Southern California Coffee and Spice Mills,
559 . .
Southern California Colony Association, 391
Southern California Fish Co., 628
Southern California, University of, 566
Southern Californian, 92, 133, 141, 148, 177,
190, 447
Southern News (see under News)
Southern Overland Mail Route, 301
Southern Pacific Railroad Co., 190, 322, 388,
450, 451, 453. 468, 475. 482, 493, 496, 498,
503 ff., 506, 510. S17. 521, 549. 556, 561, 563.
569. 576, 619; threat to cut off Los Angeles.
502; Arcade Depot, 112, 512, 531, 562;
River Station, 531. 562; — , Coast line, 583
Southern Vineyard (see under Vineyard)
Southerner, 152
Southland, new interest in the, 509
Southside, 579
Southwest Museum, 595, 635, 647, 648
Southwest Society, 542, 626
Spadra, 89. 144, 33o
Spain, King of (Alfonso XIII.), 542; grant
from King of Spain, 40
Spalding, William A., 516, 556, 612
Spanish- American War, 616
Index
683
Spanish archives, 400; — drama, 352; —
families, 97; — Fathers, loi; — language
and names, 56, 93, 133, 170, 262, 30S, 315.
354. 371, 422, 528, 563; — Missions, 102,
326, 398, 520, 542. 589, 604; — news-
papers, 93, 156, 308, 443; — -Mexican
restaurants, 133, 178
Speculation during the Boom, mania for, 572
Spence, Edward F., 467, 473, 516, 521, 552,
566
Spencer, William, 609
Spikes, golden, 388, 504
Spiritualism, 483
Sports, 157, 159 2-. 182, 242, 282, 401, 423,
490
Spring Street, 112, 335, 336, 401, 408, 417,
419, 472, 518, 561; — , origin of the name,
336 ; Spring and Sixth Street Railway, 460 2.
Sproule, William, 619
Spurgeon, William H., 401
Spurs, no, 159
Squatters, 382
Squirrels, ground, 24, 163, 215
Stages and staging, 117, 198, 234, 235,246, 270,
302, 337, 357, 374, 3S9, 391, 393. 394, 414,
410, 429, 435. 464, 465. 4S1, 496, 497, 498,
53~< 583; coast line, 153; express and mail
by stages, 234, 373; staging from San Pedro
to Los Angeles, 24, 341, 464; from Los
Angeles to San Francisco, 464; stage rob-
beries, 394
Stamboul, stallion, 592
Stamped envelopes, 291, 374
Standard Wooden Ware Co., 601
Stanford, Leland, 322, 324, 388, 440, 503, 506,
507. 562
Stanley, John Quincy Adams, 35, 43, 44
Star King, xo
Star, Los Angeles, 54, 89, 92, 93, 94, 133, 162,
191, 240, 249, 262, 276, 280, 292, 301, 306,
312, 315, 361, 371, 414, 446, 447, 464, 498,
612
Star of the West, steamship, 14, 289
Stark & Ryer, 286
Stassforth, H., 303
State divisions, proposed, 188, 241, 520, 521,
591
State moneys, how carried to Sacramento, 260
State Normal School, 532
Stationers, 389
Stealing, Indians prone to, 131
Steam-bath, 371
Steam Navigation Co., 336
Steam separator, first, 384
Steam wagon, 276
Steamers, 237, 290, 346, 366, 395; little — , or
tugs, 165, 237, 290, 398; — , affecting
schedule of trains, 404; arrival of — an-
nounced by a signal gun, 153; change of
names, 152; competition of — , 2S5, 435;
departure of — alfected by high seas, 154,
or dependent on whim of captain, 154; ex-
press sent by — , 373; — and mail, 374;
Pacific — , 336; coastwise service of — , 22,
149, 152, 154, 210. 300, 311. 312, 336, 381,
432, 436, 460, 465, 486, S06; service often
miserable, 336, and inconvenient, 486
Stearns, Abel, 30, 46, 70. 73. 77. 84 ff., 109,
151, 166, 189, 214, 215. 223, 226, 229, 255,
295. 313. 329. 343. 344. 377, 430, 510; — &
Bell, 200; — carriage, 85; — Hall, 314. 3S1,
385, 420, 427; Dona Arcadia — {nee
Bandini), 85, 109. 254, 430
Steele, Harriet, xvi
Stephens. Albert M., S97
Stephens, William Dennison, 600, 638
Stereopticon, early used in advertising, 499
Stern. Alfred, 43
Stern. Charles F., 43
Stettin, Germany, 3, 4
Stevens & Wood, 363
Stevenson, J. D., & — 's Regiment, 39. 49. 94.
476
Stewart, George H., 607, 613
Stewart, William M., 479
Still, William G.. 283, 333
Stock breeding, 427
Stockholm, 5
Stockton, Robert Field, 24, 100, 178
Stockton, William M., 199
Stoermer, August, 147
Stoll. H. W., 363, 409
StoU, Philip, 409
Stone, artificial, 490
Stoneman, George H., 394, 441, 443, 488, 499,
503, 528, 540, 581
Storke, C. A., 450
Storms, off Newfoundland, 11; of 1856, 194;
incidental to earthquakes. 312
Story, Francis Quarles, 634
Stovell, Thomas, 568
Stower, John S.,-230
Stranded Bugle, The, 583
Strassburg, 564; University of — , 598
Straus, Isadore and Mrs., 644
Strauss, Mr., 627
Strauss. Levi & Co., 381
Strawberries, 125, 428
Street of the Maids, 63, 159
Street railways: first (Spring & Sixth Street),
460, 461, 609; second (Main Street line),
389, 462; tickets, how sold, 461; transfers,
462; first double-track, 562
Streets, lighting of, 34. 68. 267, 349, 400. 408;
— , bad condition of. 34, 307, 584; — , fillea
with refuse, 34; — , neglect of, 83; — ,
ungraded, 34; street numbers, absence of,
80; — parades in, 338, 499 ff-. 528, 529;
street-scenes, 222; — sprinklers, 416
Strelitz Block. 511, 550
Stroble, Max von, 346, 406
Strobridge. George F., xvi
Strohm, Thomas, 550
Strong, Charles, 416
Stuart, J. H., 203
Stubbs. J. C, 504, 619
Subdividing and subdivisions, 292, 376, 570,
572 ff.
Sued'Californische Post, 465, 584
Suffrage Convention. Equal, 13
Sugar-beets, 388, 598 ; beet-sugar refining, 388,
59S
Sugranes. Eugene, xvi
Sulky, pioneer, 71
Sullivan, Arthur, 547
Sultana, 253
Summer outings, 429, 481
Summers, Emma A., 603
Summit Creek, 155
Sumner, Edwin V., 294, 316
Sumter, Fort. 266, 294, 616
Sundsvall, 4
Sunny Slope, 200
Sunset Oil Co., 379
Sun Yat Sen, 645
Superintendent of Schools, 105. 106, 389, 390,
419. 452, 526, 642; office once vacant, 396
Supply, steamship, 222
Supreme Court, 637
Surgeons and early surgery, 108, no, 297
Surveyors and surveys, 33, 34, 36, 38, 112,
149, 411
Sutter, John A., 476; — 's Creek, 39
Swamps, 112
Swansea, Wales. 388
Sweden. 2, 3, 6. 336, 564, 621
Sweet-potatoes, 126
Switching-charge case, 637
Switzer. Carrie, xii
Switzer (Sweitzer), C. P., 543; — "s Camp, 543
684
Index
Switzerland, 336, 398
Sycamore Grove, 401, 647
Sycamore tree, 126, 197, 401, 543
Sydney Ware, race horse, 160
Sylvester, John, 58
Tacoma, 602
Taft, William H., banquet to, 639
Tag, game of, 596
Tahoe Lake, 477
Tailors, 338; American — , 159; Mexican — ,
159
Tajo Building, 90
Tally, Thomas L., 443; — *s Theater, 443
Tamales, 134, 277. 39^', tamale vender, 391,
629
Tanner, brig, 345
Tannery, 82; attempt to establish a — , 269
Tapia, Luciano, 206, 210
Tatooing, by Indians, 218
Taxes, 298, 333. 446; — , property sold for
delinquent, 334, 443; — , delinquent during
Boom, 582; — , not collected, 328
Taylor, Benjamin Franklin, 514
Taylor, W. J., 412
Teachers, 47, 92, 105 ff., iii, 141, 163, 190,
257. 263, 308, 331, 355. 3$^, 313, 389. 390,
402, 419, 473. 494. 532, 539, 610; first
woman public school teacher, 47
Teachers' Institute, first, 418
Tecate, 424
Tedro, Philip, 222
Teed, M., 614
Tefft, Henry A., 56
Tehdchepi, 44, 440, 582; disaster near — , 536
Tej6n, Fort, 46, 204, 222, 234, 248, 297, 317,
327, 333; — Band, 157; — Paso. 58
Teiunga Pass, 208, 454; — rancho, 74
Telegram, Evening, 533
Telegram, $75 to U. S. Senate, 503
Telegraph, electric, and telegraphing, 234,
271, 283 ff., 305, 307, 308, 411; rates, 401;
undeveloped — , 9; first wire into a business
ofi&ce, 425; shortage of wire, 284; wireless
— , 624, 643
Telegraph Stage Line, 496, 497
Telephone, 560; — , first introduction here,
531
Telescopes, astronomical, 566
Tell, Will, and Tell's Place, 429, 460, 490,
581
Temecula, 124, 234
Temescal mines, 272, 302
Temple Auditorium, 590
Temple, Francis Phinney Fisk, 67, 167, 274.
282, 292, 317. 328, 372, 435t 441. 454. 479;
known as Templito, 167, 292; death of, 167,
479. 520; — rancho, 435; — & Workman,
435. 454. 467. 478. 482, sio
Temple, John (Juan), 37, 66 fit., 74, 80, 122,
129, 139. 159. i6s, 229, 240, 256, 258, 263,
287, 201, 302; Mrs. — , 67; — Building
(adobe), 67, 78, 291. 343. 372; — Court
House, 67, 339, 449; — Market, 240, 294;
— rancho, 204; — , sale of properties, 67;
— Street, 61, 66, 417. 472; — Theater,
240, 263, 286, 318; subdivision of West
Temple Street, 61, 112; — & Alexander,
23; — & Gibson, 340
Temple Block, 32, 67, 229, 273, 279, 300, 312,
364. 410, 435. 462, 490, SIO, 519, 524. 534,
596
Terminal Island, 601
Terminal Railroad, 601
Terry, David S., 130
Teschemacher, H. F., 284
Teutonia, 214, 338; — Hall, 426; — Concor-
dia, 259. 428
Texans, 91; exodus to Texas, 266
Thackeray, William Makepeace, 118
Thayer, John S., 545
Theaters, 185. 543. 559; John Temple's Thea-
ter, 240, 263, 286, 318; Merced Theater,
103, 186, 422, 443, 450; Rough and Ready
Theater, 186; Spanish theater, 352, 422;
theatrical plays postponed, 286
Theodore Bros., 87
Thirty-Eights, firemen, 356, 446, 464, 500
Thirty-fifth parallel, 285, 399, 440
Thom, Cameron E., 45, 49, 51, 52, 139. 146,
172, 224, 228, 295. 339, 347. 383. 434. 446.
481, 488, 521, 565, 587; Mrs. — (first wife,
nee Hathwell), 52; Mrs. — (second wife,
nee Hathwell), 52
Thomas, Bill, 404
Thomas, Frank J., 596, 607
Thompson, Captain, 226
Thompson, Ira W., 91, 196, 218, 251
Thompson, James, 181, 208, 246
Thompson, J. S., 505; Mrs. — , 181
Thompson, Judge, 457
Thompson, P., 405
Thompson, Robert, 432, 433, 434
Thompson, S. S., 120
Thorn, A. O., 357
Thornton, Harry I., 146
Threadneedle Street, 407
Three-fingered Jack, 58
Throop, Amos G. ("Father"). 599; — College
of Technology, 599
Thurman, H. L., 92
Thurman, J. S., 92
Thurrnan, S. D., 92
Thwaites, Reuben Gold, xii
Tibbetts, Jonathan, 91
Tibbetts, L. C, 451
Tichenor, H. B., 380, 467
Tiffany, George A., 427, 446
Tiffany & Wethered, 267
Tilden. A. F., 273
Tilden, Samuel J., 297, 323. S9i
Tileston, Emery & Co., 384
Times, Los Angeles, 373, 444, 482, 530, 533.
541. SS6, 583, 590, 591, 612, 616, 617. 636,
646; Times-Mirror Co., 533, 555. SS6. 557;
the Times Building, 453; — , destruction of,
641; Times Magazine, 617
Timms, Augustus W., 23, 342, 500, 522; —
Cove, 522; — Landing, 23. 237. S22; —
Point, 522
Tipton, 496
Tischler, Hyman, 75, 329, 330; — & Schlesin-
ger, 229
Titanic, steamship, disaster to the, 644
Titus, L. H., 200, 423, 426, 445, 591, 593
Tivoli Garden, 273, 340; — Opera House, 559
Toasts, old-fashioned, 399
Tobacco, 253, S05. 649; — growing, 252;
indulgence in — , by women, 253
Tobermann, James R., 330, 372, 373. 445.
446, 535; — Street, 446
Todd, Surgeon, 321
Toland, Dr. H. H., 319
Tomatoes, early, 428
Tom Gray Ranch, 357
Tomlinson, J. J., 23, 42, 236, 274, 290, 370,
371; — & Co., 337, 342; — & Griffith, 420;
— corral gate, 327, 420, 433
Tonner, P. C, 419
Toreador, 161
Torne^, 5
Tor OS, 414
Toros, Calle de, 161
Torrance, Jared S., 647; — Tower, 648
Tortillas, 134
Tourists, great influx of, 570
Tournament Park, Pasadena, 592; Touma*
ment of Roses Association, 592
Index
685
Town ball, 596
Town. R, M., 472
Towns, frenzied founding of, 570
Townsend, B. A., 23
Trafford, Thomas, 326, 418
Transatlantic travel, 10 flE., 67, 163, 164, 360,
564. 621
Trask, D. K., 607
Travel, difficulties of railway, 393, 496
Treadwell and Treadwell Mines, 603
Treasure, digging for, 254
Trees. 269, 291, 388; — , dearth of early, 162,
291; Mariposa big — , 272; — , objection
to watering, 163; ■ — , sacrificed for fuel, 141
Trenza de sus Cabellos, la, 352
Tres Pinos, 453, 457
Tribune, Daily, Los Angeles, 556
Tribune, Los Angeles, 642
Trinity Methodist Church, corner-stone
opening, 474
Tropical life, 15
Tropico, 547
Truck, first flat, 335
Truck gardening, 124, 125
Truckee River, 370
Trudell, Jean B., 132, Mrs. — (formerly, Mrs.
Henry Melius), 133
Truman, Ben C, 361, 394, 441, 446, 447, 483,
498, 603. 607. 612, 636; Mrs. — , 361, 612
Truth, native shyness of, 131
Truxton, 460
Tuch, Nathan, 89
Tucson, 301, 317. 375. 504
Tuffree, J. R.. 581
Tulare County, 188
Tules, 112
Tuna, canned, 628
Tunnels, 496, 502, 504, 622 ; naade and needed,
623
Turck, W. I., xvi
Turkey, mammoth, 423
Turner, Joel H., 379, 388, 398, 399
Turner, John, 87
Turner, William, 500
Turner, William F., 87, 470; Mrs. — , 470
Turntable, first railroad, 397
Turnverein, 214, 272, 402, 409, 410, 428, 623;
— Building, first, 428; — Block, 192;
Turnverein-Germania, 428, 584, 629; —
Hall, 192, 526, 529, 533. 573. S84. 630
Tustin (Tustin City), 181, 577
Tustin, Columbus, 577. 578
Twain, Mark, 32
Tweed, William Marcy, 590
"Twenty-five Years Ago To-day," 623
Twist, W. W., 147, 209
Twitchell, Csesar C, ro6
Two Years before the Mast, 197, 226, 255, 296
Typewriter, first, 497
Ty, Sing, 433
Tyson's Wells, 415
U
Uhrie, Marie, 39
Ulyard, August, 77. 191. 287, 481; Mrs. — , 77
UmeS. 4
Unangst, E. P. and Mrs., xvi
Union Hardware and Metal Co., 409
Union League, 338; — Club. Philadelphia, 498
Union, steamer. 300
Union Warehouse, 2S8
Union & Texas Pacific Railroad, 486
Unionists, 224, 296, 306, 321, 333. 339. 34^;
— , San Francisco, 339
United States and North America, 399
United States Army and oflScers, 166, 171,
173. 221, 224, 247, 271, 272, 297. 303, 341.
358; headquarters. 246, 265, 297. 299. 301,
3IX. 321, 341, 358, 517. 587
United States Circuit Court, 565; — District
Court, first judge, 279
United States Government, 299. 308, 311, 321,
339, 353, 426, 435. 630
United States Hotel, 149. 244, 279, 303. 380,
397. 469, 481, 5S1
Universal City, 344
University of California, 403, S36, 624, 631
University of Chicago, 567
University of Southern California, 516, 536,
548
University Place, 609
Unruh, H. A., 475
Upper Main Street, 63, 159
Usurers, 130
Utah, 507, 301, 330
Vacination, opposition to, 118, 322
Vach6, Adolphe, 281
Vach6, ^mile, 280; — Freres, 280, 548
Vach6. Th6ophiIe, 280; — & Co., T., 281
Vail, W. L., 634
Valdez, Jos6 Maria, 58
Valle, Ant6nio, 550
Vallejo, General, 263
Valor of Ignorance, The, 645
Vandever, William, 591
Van Dyke, Walter, 596
Van Dyke, William M., xvi
Van Gilpin, Professor, 373
Van Nuys, Isaac Newton, 381, 421, 493. 514.
515. 537. 607; — Building, 515; — Hotel,
340
Vaquero, steamship, 430
Vaqueros, 90, 182, 243
Vara, the, ZZ, 262
Varela, Serbo, 266
Vasquez, Tiburcio, 223, 453 ff.. 471. 517; — ,
recipient, in cell, of flowers, 458; — . exe-
cuted, 458
Vassallo, Francisco, 550
Vawter, E. J., 481
Vawter, William D., 481
Vawter, W. S.. 481
Vegetables, 88, 124 S... 192, 272, 317, 332. 428,
504, 514, 552; — peddled to steamers, 12
Vejar, John C, 147
Vejar, Ricardo, 174, 178, 200, 329; — Vine-
yard, 474
Vejar, Soledad, 147
Velardes, Francisco, 159
Velocipedes, 384
Venice, 627, 630
Ventura (see San Buenaventura)
Ventura, 346
Ventura County, 22, 599
Verandas, 113
Verde, Cape, 123
Verdugo Canon, 424; — , Casa, 178
Verdugo family, 177
Verdugo. Guillermo, 178
Verdugo, Jos6 Maria, 177; — rancho, 178, 181,
424
Verdugo, Julio, 178
Verdugo, Julio Chrisostino, 178
Verdugo, Victoriano, 178
Verelo, Miguel, 427
Vergara, Manuel, 35
Vernon, 575, 609
Vernon Avenue, 202
Vernondale, 575
Vickery & Hinds. 550
Vielle, Louis, 369
Vigilance Committees, 66, 139, 147, 207 ff.,
324 ff., 419; — , San Francisco, 21, 54, 340
Vignes, Jean Louis, 62, 89, 100, 108. 171, 190,
197, 198. 200, 312; — Street, 198
Vignolo & Sanguinetti, 550
686
Index
Villard, Henry, $30
Vineyard, James F., 143
Vineyard, Lake, 169, 306
Vineyard, Souther?:, 224
Vineyards, 25, 103, 112, 132, 142, 162, 197 fE.,
200, 213, 233. 238, 249, 265, 281, 286, 292,
293, 300, 337. 363, 378, 39S, 445, 474, 610;
— affected by floods, 309; mother vineyard,
199
Vintage, 294
Virgen, P. J., 34; — Street, 34
Virgenes, Calle de las, 159
Virgin Bay, 16
Virginia City, Nevada, 477
Visalia, 270, 234; — and the Southern Pacific,
503
Visiting, 81
Visitors, commotion caused by, 137
Vista del Arroya, 532
Voting precinct, first, 41
Vulture Mines, 415
W
Wachtel, J. V., 589
Wackerbarth, August, xvi
Wade, K. H., 607
Wadhams, Collins, 76; — & Foster, 76
Wagons, 24, 83 ; — , bet on races, 161 ; — , used
for gallows, 433; — from Salt Lake, 187;
spring-wagon, 85; wagon-trains, 242, 322,
Waite, Alonzo, 306, 315, 350, 380, 443» 446
Waite, James S., 94, 191, 192; — & Co., 133
Waldeck, Jacob E., 60s
Waldron, Dave, 462, 463
Walker, Frank, 615
Walker, Irving M., 355
Walker, William, 21, 54, 407
Wall Street, 448
Wallace, William A., 106, 193
Waller, G. M., 512
Walleria, 579
Walnut seed, black, 163
Walters, George, 63
Walther. F. G., 388
Walton, Charles S., 606
Ward, Ben E., 580
Ward, Mrs. J. T., xvi
Ward, John, 83
Wards, London publishers, 631
Ware, Jim, 268
Warehouses, 288
Warner, Charles Dudley, 597
Warner, Jonathan Trumbull (Juan Jos6),
169, 170, 224, 256, 323, 372, 426, 501, 515,
S41, 578, 609; — , Mrs., 170; — 's Ranch,
169, 234, 294. 542
Warren, William C., 221, 327, 339, 418
Wartenberg, Henry, 61, 405, 409
Washburn, W. J., 626
Washburne, Elihu B., 360
Washing clothes, mode of, 117; — , in the
river, 117
Washington, Colonel, 183
Washington Gardens, 447, 462, 463, 547
Washington, George and Martha, 500; — 's
Birthday Celebrations, 147, 264
Washington Street, 474
Washoe Gold Fields, 333
Wass Molitor & Co., 130
Watchmakers, 68, 213, 235, 356
Water, 211, 355, 360, 365. 37o, 372, 418, 446,
533. 613, 618; — Commissioner, 116; —
Companies, 366, 377. 384, 418, 446, 454,
495. 509. 534; — dam, 372; — ditch. Child's
231; domestic — supply, 116, 117; — , Los
Angeles River, 116; water system, nucleus
of, 210; — , objection to use of, 163; — »
peddling of, 116, 117, 350; — pipes, iron.
377t 384, 445; — pipes, wooden, 211, 350,
366; — .^pollution of, 116; — , scarcity of,
' 114; — , stealing of, 125; — , zanja, 115, 116
Watermelons, 126, 563; seeds of, for medicinal
uses, 127
Waters, James, 63
Waters, Russell Judson, 605
Watkins, Commodore, 306
Watson, James A., 139, 174, 318
Way, Daniel E., 318
Weapons, carrying, 224; — , forbidden, 348
Weather prophets, 12O, 421
Weaver Diggings, 321
Webber & Haas, 244, 303
Weber, shoemaker, 86
Webster, Daniel, 93, 650
Weddings, 136, 224, 347, 410, 464, 538, 636,
637
Weed, Edward A., 548
Weekly Mirror, see under Mirror
Weidner, Perry W., 634, 639
Weil, Alexander, 565
Weil, Alphonse, 551
Weil, Jacob, 91
Weiner, Captain, 150
Weinschank, Andrew A., 453
Weinschank, Caroline, 453
Weinschank, Frank A., 453
Weixel, Jacob, 115
Welch, J. C, 109, 320
Wells Fargo & Co., 39. 57. m. 201, 233, 241,
24s, 260, 261, 280, 313, 320, 330, 373 ff..
395, 410, 475
Wells, G. Wiley, 51?
Wesley Avenue, 462, 516
West, B. R., 318
Western Union Telegraph Co., 411
Westlake district, 629; — Park, 349, 609; — ,
subdivision, 112
Westminster, 177; — Hotel, 419
Weston, Olive E., xvi
West Prussia, i
Weyse, H. G., 202
Weyse, Julius, 202
Weyse, Otto G., and Mrs., 202
Weyse, Rudolf G., 202; Mrs. — , 142, 202
Whaling, 26S, 308
Wharf, Long, San Francisco, 21, 89, 199; — ,
Port Los Angeles, 468
Wharf, Santa Monica, 4S5
Wharves, absence of, 19, 22, 56
What Cheer House, 369
Wheat, 332, 381, 493
Wheat, A. C, xvi
Wheeler, Horace Z., 38, 218
Wheeler, John Ozias, 38, 133, 218, 249, 279,
373, 379. 462, 529, 562; — Bros., 38
Wheeler, Mary Esther, 106, 373
Wheelwrights, 82, 84, 115, 153, 239, 358, 384
Whigs, 91
Whipping post, 66
Whipple Barracks, Arizona, 387
Whisky Flat, 357
Whist, 230
Whitcomb, George, 576
Whitcomb, Ledora, 576
White, Caleb E., 512
White, Charles H., 452, 556
White, Jennie. 185, 436
White, Michael, 87, 90
White House, 219, 542, 618; — , hotel, 418,
552
White Pine, Nevada, 424
White River, 414
White, Stephen M., 467, 553 S- 565, 596, 597,
607; — , monument to, 468
White, Thomas J., 107, 185, 200, 267, 356, 436
White, T. Jeff, 185
White's Point, 624
Whitman, George N., 43
Index
687
Whittier, John Greenleaf, 576; — , town of,
180, 374, 555, 576, 620; — , origin of name,
489
Whitworth, James H., 250
Wholesalers' Board of Trade, 538
Wickenberg, 415
Wicks, Moye, 477
Wicks, Moses Langley, 476, 540
Widney, Joseph P., 370, 423, 457, 483, 501,
516, 521. 529. 548. 589
Widney, Robert Maclay, 370, 401, 412, 426,
434. 442, 449, 460, 483, 489, 503, 515, 521;
Mrs. — , 634
Widney, Samuel A., 311
Wiebecke's beer garden, Frau, 409
Wiebers, D., 601, 635, 637
Wiggin, Kate Douglas, 474
Wiggins, Frank, 607, 634, 647
Wigmore, George H., 619
Wilburn, Robert, 275
Wilcox, Henry, 472, 473
Wild animals, first, 463
Wilde, Charles L., xvi
Wiley, H. C. 180, 395, 492; Mrs. — , 180, 493
Wilhart, Louis, 82, 200
Wilkins, Charles, 327
Willard, Charles Dwight, vii, 543, 545, 607,
619. 635. 646; Mrs. — , 646, 647
Willhartitz, Adolph, 625
Williams, Francisca, 168, 347
Williams, George, 348
Williams, George, grocer, 551
Williams, Hiram, 197
Williams. J. A. & Co., 613
Williams, Julian Isaac, 38, 167, 168, 197, 226,
263, 326, 347, 598, 617; — . Mrs., 347
Williams, Maria Merced, 168
Williamson, George, 379
Williamson, Mariana, 444
Williamson, Mrs. M. Burton, 603
Williamson, Nels, 82, 444
Williamson Tract, 573
Willmore. W. E., 521; — City, 521
Willows, 126, 198, 212, 329, 614
Willow Springs, 414
Wills, Mrs. Charlotte LeMoyne, 567
Wills, John A., 567
Wills, W. LeMoyne, 363. 567, 607
Wilmington, 218, 236, 247, 299, 301, 311, 321,
326, 342, 353, 363, 366, 375, 376, 381, 384.
389. 393 ff-, 397. 402, 404, 506, 520, 548,
637, 638; — , charge for hauling from, 343;
— Harbor, 426; — shipping, 236; — ,
Southern Pacific Railroad influence in
favor of , 521; — Street, 551; — Transporta-
tion Co., 568
Wilmington Journal, 404
Wilmington, Delaware, 236
Wilshire, H. G., 580; — Boulevard, 580
Wilshire, W. B., 607
Wils^iire district, 379; — subdivision, 112
Wilson, Benjamin (Benito) Davis, 63, 168,
172, 175, 190, 200, 241, 302, 306, 316, 320,
322, 346, 363. 412, 440. 445.. 451; Mrs. — ,
{nee Yorba), 169; Mrs. — (formerly Mrs.
M. S. Hereford), 169, 316, 320; proposed
— College, 451; — , Mount, 566; — 's Peak,
168
Wilson, Bob, 24S
Wilson, C. N.. .S4I
Wilson, Emmet H., 626
Wilson, John, 28, 428
Wilson, Peter (Bully), 279» 429
Wilson, Ruth, 363
Wilson's Station, 415
Windmills, 460
Windstorms, 336
Windward Passage, 14
Wine cellars, 294; — gardens, 193
Wineries, wine-making and wines, 134, 200,
202, 203, 219, 233i 238, 239. 26s, 280, 294,
369, 407
Winfield Scott, steamship, wreck of, 22
Winston, James B., 107, 108, 109, 183, 245^
255. 346. 380; Mrs. — , 183, 255; — & Co.,
J. B., 316; — & Hodges, 26, 92; — & King,
380
Wireless, 624
Wise, K. D., 457
Witmer, Henry Clay, 563
Wolfenstein, V., 364
Wolfskin, John, 170; — Tract, 586
Wolfskin, Joseph, 212, 263
Wolfskin, Juana, 142
Wolfskin, Louis, 170, 174, 263, 439
Wolfskin, Magdalena, 171
Wolfskin, Mateo, 170, 171
Wolfskin, Timoteo, 72
Wolfskin, William, 72, 89, 106, 112, 125, 142,
163, 170, 174, 187, 199. 201, 211, 21J, 219.
229, 244, 286, 326. 336, 357. 394. 439; Mrs.
— , 171; — Building, 362; — Lane, 485;
— orange grove, 212; — ranch and sub-
division, 544; — Road, 273; — Tract, 562;
— Vineyard, 201
Wollweber, Theodore, 201, 291
Woman's Gun, loi; — rights, 278
Women's clubs, 473, 600, 607; —r, open air
meeting of, 409
Wood as fuel, 37, 141
Wood, lynching of, 324, 327
Wood, C. Modini, 529; — Mrs. (see under
Perry)
Wood, F. W., 606
Wood, John, 463; — 's Opera House, 463; — 'a
Band, 499
Woodworth, Alice, 142
Woodworth, John D., 231, 445
Woodworth, Samuel, 231
Woodworth, Wallace, 81, 231, 263; — , Mrs.,
200, 263
Wool, and the wool-craze, 288, 421, 437 ff.,
628; woolen mills, 450, Sir
Woolacott, H. J., 79, 607
Woolwine, Thomas Lee, ill
Woolwine, W. D., 607
Wooster Street Congregation, New York, 122
Worden, Perry, viii., 119
Workman, Ant6nia Margarita, 167
Workman, Boyle, 233
Workman, David and Mrs., 132
Workman, Elijah H., 132, 269, 417
Workman, Thomas H., 42, 132, 142, 320;
Mrs. — , 142
Workman, rWilliam, 132, 172, 205, 242, 317,
355. 372, 479. 494
Workman, WiUiam H., 42, 43, 132. 141, 202,
224, 232, 256, 269, 349. 419. 481, 561, 587,
5S9, 594, 598, 629, 630; — Bros., 291; —
Street, 132
Workman, William H., Jr., 233
Works, John D., 517; — & Lee, 517
Wright, E. T., 568
Wright, George, 436
Wright, John H.. 358
Wright. J. T., 28s
Yankee Doodle, 501
Yankee notions, 218
Yarnen, George, 427; — & Caystile, — .
Caystile & Brown, 444; — , Caystile &
Mathes, 530, 533
Yarnell, Jesse, 427
Yarrow, Henry G., 76
Yates, J. D., 78, 279
Yates, Mary D., 79
Ybarra, Francisco, 457
Yeast powders, 346
688
Index
Yellow fever, 14, 359
Yellow tail, 127
Yerba Buena, 49
Yorba, Bernardo, 169, 177, 212, 238
Yorba, Josd Antdnio, 181
Yorba, Josef a, 103
Yorba, Ramona, 169
Yost, Robert M., 628
Young, Brigham, is6, 218, 34S, 498
Young, Ewing, 170, 187
Young, Frances, 143
Ystad, 3. 4
Yuma, Fort, 3S. 74. 20s, 234, 247, 274, 283,
294. 301, 343. 375. 514
Zahn, Johann Carl, 430
Zahn, Oswald F., 430
Zahn, Otto J., 430
Zanjas, 88, lis, 119, 125, 210, 218, 26s,
322, 364, 472, S48, 573; zanja madre, 116,
210
Zanjero, 36, 94, 116, 125, 286, 29s, 302,
573
Zarate, Felipe, 424
Zeehandelaar, Felix J., 607, 611, 639
Zeppelin, Ferdinand, 561
Zola, Kmile, 451
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